The University of Pretoria (UP), including its business school, the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), will award degrees to 10 465 graduates at this year’s Autumn Graduation Ceremonies. Qualifications ranging from diplomas and certificates to PhD degrees will be awarded by all nine faculties at the University, with the Faculty of Economic and Management Science conferring the highest number of degrees (2 412).

A total of 134 doctorates, 1 187 master’s degrees and 2 957 honours degrees are to be awarded by the University during these ceremonies.

UP is the largest contact higher education institution in South Africa with almost 50 000 contact students and 12 000 distance education students. Thirty per cent of the total number of contact students are registered for postgraduate programmes. UP is committed to deliver on its vision of being a leading research-intensive university in Africa, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally.

Despite being the largest research-intensive university in the country, UP remains committed to increasing student access through planned growth in enrolment, particularly in areas where South Africa has a critical skills shortage. In 2015, UP saw a third of school leavers who had achieved six or more distinctions in grade 12 enrolling as first years. This proves that the University is an institution of choice for talented, hard-working young people.

UP’s Vice-Principal, Prof Anton Ströh, congratulated the graduates for the immense effort they have made to realise their achievements. ‘Today you will unlock a world of uncapped potential. It is in your hands to act now in order to shape the future of our country and continent. Your choices are limitless – strive for greatness and make a profound difference in the world,’ he said.

During the Autumn Graduation Ceremonies UP will also recognise individuals who have made notable contributions in their field of expertise by awarding them honorary doctorates:

• Prof Karl E Klare: Prof Klare is from the School of Law at Northeastern University, Boston, USA. He has published and lectured extensively on labour and employment law and human rights. Prof Klare has worked on several legal projects in South Africa and works closely with South African legal scholars on issues related to the concept of ‘transformative constitutionalism’. Klare is honoured by UP in view of the enormous influence his scholarship has had, and continues to have, on the education and development of our students and staff. His work has been at the core of a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses over the past two decades, and a large number of postgraduate research projects at UP have had the notion of legal culture and his suggestion of transformative constitutionalism as their central focus.

• Prof Jan de Groof: UP will confer an honorary doctorate on Prof De Groof in recognition of his extensive work in education and law. He is regarded as one of the most influential role players in education law in the late 20th and the early 21st centuries and is a tireless campaigner for justice and good governance in education. He is a professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and the University of Tilburg (the Netherlands). 

• Prof M Dorigo: Prof Dorigo is a research director of the FRS-FNRS – the Belgian fund for scientific research – and co-director of IRIDIA, the artificial intelligence laboratory of the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He is also a fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), of the AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) and of the ECCAI (European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence). Because of his numerous scientific contributions, Prof Dorigo has been awarded many international prizes.

• Prof H Alper: Prof Alper is currently Chair of the government of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa. His research spans organic and inorganic chemistry with potential applications in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical and commodity chemical industries. He has published 542 papers and holds 37 patents.

• Prof Adrian Bejan: Prof Bejan has a PhD degree in mechanical engineering and has pioneered numerous original methods in thermal sciences. Adrian Bejan is ranked among the 100 most cited authors in the entire field of engineering. He is a member of the Academy of Europe and an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Romanian Academy and the Moldova Republic Academy of Sciences. The honorary doctorate is bestowed on Professor Bejan in recognition of the enormous scope and tremendous contributions he has made in the fields of thermodynamics, heat transfer and applied physics.