Wits welcomes new students and celebrates turning

Wits University greeted 5 500 new students at an event on 5 February 2012. A festive mood prevailed at the Piazza outside the Great Hall, where the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Loyiso Nongxa, welcomed the new recruits before releasing balloons and cutting a cake. This new intake joins Wits as the University celebrates its 90th anniversary.

“Studying at Wits comes with a lot of responsibilities. There are many young people out there looking for the space you have been offered. It is your responsibility and obligation to make the most of it, because you are in a position for which others are yearning,” said Nongxa. “Do not overstay your welcome,” he quipped, to much laughter.

Nongxa told the new Witsies that they had an obligation to rise to national challenges identified by the National Planning Commission. These include reducing unemployment, improving the public health system, providing a better public service, enhancing the quality of education and stamping out corruption.

“We want to produce graduates who can help society rise to the challenges of the 21st century,” he said.