Speaking about the daunting experience of attending university for the first time, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Calie Pistorius, assured First Years that UP would pull out all the stops to ensure that students receive the support they need to adapt to their new environment and to make a success of their studies.

“One of the hallmarks of this (UP) culture …, is the degree to which everyone feels truly welcome on our campus; welcome in the academic sense; in a religious sense and also in a social sense,” Prof. Pistorius told guests in the pack Amphitheatre.

The Vice-Principal also highlighted the academic excellence in teaching and learning at the University of Pretoria and told the audience that the successes of the past 100 years would continue in future.

Students and parents not only attended the briefing session by the Vice-Chancellor, but also had the opportunity to visit their new faculties, take tours of the campuses and speak to student leaders and organisations about all aspects of university life.

Prof. Pistorius, Prof Susan Adendorff of the Alumni Council and Molatelo Thebe – the top matriculant to enrol in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology, also planted three Bladdernut trees as part of a tradition where every batch of first years plant indigenous trees on the campus that will remain as their heritage.

For the Vice-Chancellor’s full address, click here.