Vice-Chancellor's Update

15 December 2025 - Professor Zeblon Vilakazi

Season's greetings from Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits University.

Dear Wits Colleagues
 
It has been an extraordinary five years leading this great institution with your support and commitment. As your Vice-Chancellor and Principal, I am proud and deeply grateful to share some of the highlights of 2025 with you and I  look forward with confidence to the next five years  of our shared journey. Teaching and Learning

Wits has just been ranked No.1 for innovation performance in the THE-linked Innovation Index amongst all universities in sub-Saharan Africa - we have collectively achieved this goal. Congratulations!

Our University remains a national treasure that occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of Africans. This institution has stood as a beacon of excellence in South Africa and I am confident that together, we can achieve more. 

 
Learning in a Changing World

We are implementing the learning and teaching plan and we are harnessing technology, data-driven success metrics and AI tools and principles to adapt to our rapidly changing world.

The investment in WitsPlus is paying off – we are confident that it will become the short course provider of choice, offering pioneering stackable micro-credentials to extend lifelong learning and to diversify our academic footprint, amongst other initiatives. 
We have committed to a 60% undergraduate : 40% postgraduate enrolment mix, with a target of 50% of students in STEM fields. The focus is  also  to ensure quality learning and teaching, better throughout rates, and  student success. 

Investing in the Academy

In our last meeting, the Wits Board of Governors agreed to provide substantial support to invest in the academy in order to retain, grow and develop worldclass academics, especially those impacted by the US funding cuts, and to attract researchers in line with our research goals.

In terms of infrastructure development, Wits recently broke ground on the WITS BioHub – Africa’s first fully integrated “bedside-to-bench-to-breakthrough” research campus in Parktown that will consolidate biomolecular labs, BSL-3 facilities, start-up incubation and translational platforms. This, coupled with the Zylstra Sports Complex that opens next year will make the health sciences an attractive, leading South African hub.

The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome opened to the public this year as did the Wits Sterkfontein Caves – again demonstrating that Wits is at the heart of this City and Province. A new water centre was also launched as well as the Mervyn King Centre for Corporate Governance at the Wits Business School.
 
The Earth Observatory and the African Research Centre for Ore Systems Science also opened.

We are also focusing on developing a Wits Cultural Precinct that will incorporate the various entities within the humanities and arts, and beyond. 

I believe that we have an advantage to conduct interdisciplinary research and innovation with impact through our research – innovation – entrepreneurship ecosystem, particularly in areas such as AI, innovation and quantum computing; climate change, sustainability and inequality; manufacturing and mechatronics; democracy, society and governance; the future of work; and better health for all. 

In AI for example, the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute received US$1 million from Google this year. The Wits Innovation Centre, Wits Enterprise and Wits Health Consortium have also played a key role in this ecosystem. 

Stronger Together