University Of Witwatersrand History, The University of the Witwatersrand owes its origins to the South African School of Mines which was founded in Kimberley in 1896.
The School moved to Johannesburg in 1903 as the Transvaal Technical Institute and became the University of the Witwatersrand in 1922. In the same year Professor John Orr, who had been Professor of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at the School of Mines since 1898, became the first De Beers Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University.
Professor Orr resigned his professorship in 1925 to organise technical education on the Witwatersrand, and later became the Director of the Witwatersrand Technical College. In the 1930s, in recognition of his contributions, his name was given to a Chair of Mechanical Engineering, and subsequently to a wing of the laboratory building.
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In 1926, another distinguished Scot, Dr WJ Walker, succeeded Professor Orr, holding the Chair of Mechanical Engineering until 1952. Professor Walker established the laboratory and contributed significantly to engineering education in this country. He founded the Engineers Association of South Africa to raise the status of professional engineers.
In 1960 the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineers launched a fund-raising campaign to endow two additional chairs in the Department leading to the Chair of Applied Mechanics being established in 1963 and the Chair of Fluid Mechanics in 1964. A further Chair of Industrial Engineering was established in 1970.
One of the major developments in departmental activities was the introduction in 1962 of a part-time postgraduate coursework programme in Industrial Engineering leading to the Graduate Diploma in Engineering degree. In 1971 an Aeronautical Engineering degree was offered for the first time as an alternative to the Mechanical Engineering degree, with sponsorship from the aeronautical industry and the establishment of the Jack Davison Chair.
In the same year the Department was converted into a School of Mechanical Engineering with three branches or streams, Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical, and a rotating chairmanship.
Over the past few years, thanks to the generous sponsorship from industry, additional Chairs were established and others were re-designated. Sponsored lecturers have been established through Murray and Roberts and Unilever. Transnet sponsor two centres the Transnet Matlafatšo Centre (TMC) and the Transnet Centre of Systems Engineering (TCSE). An Eskom EPPEI Centre for Combustion Engineering is in the process of being established.
Today the School awards on average some 90 BSc(Eng) and 40 postgraduate degrees and diplomas each year. The BSc(Eng) degrees are accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).
The School enjoys formal international recognition of its degrees, until recently through accreditation by the Engineering Council of the UK represented by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Electrical Engineers (Manufacturing Division) and the Royal Aeronautical Society. This international accreditation is now covered through ECSA s membership of the Washington Accord.