The South African College was an educational institution in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, which developed into the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

(UCT) and the

South African College Schools The South African College Schools (colloquially often known as “SACS”) is a public English medium primary and high education institution situated in Newlands – part of the Southern Suburbs region of Cape Town in the Western Cape provinc ...

(SACS).

History

The process that would lead to the formation of the South African College was started in 1791, when the Dutch Commissioner-General,

Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist (20 April 1749 – 3 August 1823) was a Dutch statesman. He was the Head of State of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic from 17 April 1797 – 1 May 1797, and Commissioner-General of the Cape Colony ...

, asked for money to be set aside to improve the schools in the Cape. When the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

took over the control of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

, under the first governor, Lord Charles Henry Somerset, permission was given for the money set aside by de Mist to be used to establish the South African College. The founding committee met in the Groote Kerk to discuss funding and accommodation for the school on 1 October 1829. That year, the school opened. Diplomat Edmund Roberts visited the college in 1833. He noted that only

wealthy Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an ...

young men attended the school and that classes were offered in both English and Dutch languages. The original location of the school was in the Weeshuis on Long Street and moved to what is now known as the Egyptian Building (on the Hiddingh Campus of UCT) in the

Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

district of Cape Town in 1841. It was decided in 1874 that the younger students should be separated from their older counterparts. The South African College was separated into the college, which became the

; and the College Schools.

References

{{Authority control Defunct universities and colleges in South Africa Education in Cape Town University of Cape Town 1829 establishments in the Cape Colony Universities and colleges established in 1829