Annual Events Calendar
The Spectrium Graduate School of Business campus is host to many annual events that are held in celebration of important milestones and that add a unique charm and flavor to the community.
Opening Exercises, an interfaith service in the Campus Hall, traditionally marks the beginning of the academic year each semester. Throughout the year, events such as Nelson Mandela Day and Youth Day, the International Students Festival bring members of the campus and area communities together. The academic year ends with activities including Graduations, which annually draw lots of people alumni and their families when undergraduate and graduate degrees are presented with pomp and circumstance on the selected Graduate venues.
Youth Day
In 1975 protests started in African schools after a directive from the then Bantu Education Department that Afrikaans had to be used on an equal basis with English as a language of instruction in secondary schools. The issue, however, was not so much the Afrikaans as the whole system of Bantu education which was characterized by separate schools and universities, poor facilities, overcrowded classrooms and inadequately trained teachers. On 16 June 1976 more than 20 000 pupils from Soweto began a protest march. In the wake of clashes with the police, and the violence that ensued during the next few weeks, approximately 700 hundred people, many of them youths, were killed and property destroyed. Youth Day commemorates these events.
Volunteers will contribute their valuable time as teaching assistants and tutors in primary, secondary schools and volunteer centers around Johannesburg and Soweto, They will have the opportunity to be directly involved in the motivation and development of young people's lives and ultimately helping to bridge gaps and influence change in the 'New South Africa'.
Please note that all projects require volunteers who are self-starters and can conduct their daily activities with minimal supervision. You will take part in a flexible schedule in one or more of the following areas, depending on program needs and volunteer skills. For example, you may work in the morning at a school and in the afternoon at a "place of safety" or day care centre. At this time, a teaching qualification is not required but volunteers need to be confident in the above subjects and preferably have, or are studying towards a university degree.
Mandela Day
Mandela Day is an annual celebration of Nelson Mandela’s life and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual ability to make an imprint and change the world around them. Mandela Day has been created to inspire people from every corner of the world to embrace the values that have embodied Nelson Mandela’s life: democracy; equality; reconciliation; diversity; responsibility; respect and freedom – for these are the values of Nelson Mandela and they are his legacy to the world.
Mandela Day aims to showcase the work of the Nelson Mandela charitable organisations (Nelson Mandela Foundation; Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; Mandela Rhodes Foundation) and raise monies to support their continuing work.
By connecting people with ways to act on Nelson Mandela’s values, we aim to empower every individual to make an imprint on the world. The Mandela Day campaign message is simple: Nelson Mandela has given 67 years of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. All we are asking is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it’s supporting your chosen charity or serving your local community.
Mandela Day is a global social movement an umbrella idea that does not discriminate, it’s open and lets in and embraces every organization that does good, whilst enabling people to serve their community and improve their lives. The Mandela Day brand icon represents Mr. Mandela’s hand and the passing of the torch to each of us and our individual ability to make an imprint on the world. Mandela Day is not a holiday – it is a day for all of us to opt in and show that we can all make an impact.
International Student Festivals
The annual International Festival of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has proved to be an excellent platform to foster awareness for the positive aspects of diversity. For the 8thyear running, this colourful festival celebrates the values, traditions and beliefs of world cultures and highlights the importance of international collaboration and communication as crucial elements of academic vitality.
The festival is the biggest annual event hosted by the University's International Student Affairs Division and offers students and visitors a unique opportunity to globetrot by exploring and experiencing a feast of different cuisine, cultures and lifestyles. Though the likes of Cameroon, Rwanda, Lesotho and Gabon are said to be the festival’s favorites, everyone is expected to live up to the high standards, and showcase their culture to the best of their ability. All countries are going to participate in a competitive yet constructive manner and represent their countries as best as possible.
Arts, Events and Exhibitions
About Johannesburg
Jo'burg or eGoli as locally called is the largest city in South Africa.
Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Africa. The city is one of the 40 largest metropolitan areas in the world, and is also the world's largest city not situated on a river, lake, or coastline.
Johannesburg Braamfontein CBD is South Africa's foremost receiving house of live entertainment, home to four South African-based multinationals, the City Council and South Africa's premier educational institutions, the Spectrium Graduate School of Business and the University of the Witwatersrand. Braamfontein has been a part of Johannesburg since 1886, the year the city was established. The district also boasts some impressive Art Deco buildings which include the Constitutional Hill.
Visiting students can tour the city to familiarize and gain appreciation of Jo’burg and its deep heritage. Included here are recommended areas one may visit during your period of studies at Spectrium Graduate School of Business
Practical Information
Currency Rand (ZAR)
Equivalence (5 November 2010) 1US$ = 7.20 ZAR 1Euro = 7.19 ZAR
Phone code: 27 + regional code + number
The climate in South Africa is moderate, due to its position south of the Tropic of Capricorn and the surrounding oceans. It’s a dry and sunny place.
Johannesburg and Surrounding Areas
ABSA Money Museum
Home to the largest collection of money used in South Africa’s past in the world, Absa Money Museum lies in downtown Johannesburg on Fox Street. The ABSA Money Museum is the only banking and money museum in the country, and holds a fascinating history of how economic, political and social change
Adler Museum of Medicine
Over 40 000 objects that illustrate the history of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy through the ages today make up the collection housed in the Adler Museum of medicine, funded by the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits University in Johannesburg, where it sits on campus as part of the medical school in Parktown.
Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum is the story of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Beginning in 1948, the white elected National Party government initiated a process which turned over 20 million people into 2nd class citizens, damning them to a life of servitude, humiliation and abuse.
Constitution Hill
Nowhere can the story of South Africa’s turbulent past and its extraordinary transition to democracy be told as it is at Constitution Hill. This national heritage site has witnessed a century of South Africa’s history. From rebellious British soldiers who fought with the Boers at the turn of the century, to contemporary events.
James Hall Museum of Transport
Based in Rosettenville Johannesburg, opposite the Rand Stadium, the James Hall Museum of Transport is an incredible collection of over 400 years’ worth of various modes of land transport that range from steam driven vehicles, trains, trams and trolley buses, to animal drawn carriages, early bicycles and more.
Johannesburg Zoo
Situated on Jan Smuts Avenue in Parkview, the Johannesburg Zoo is one of the city’s most popular haunts. The huge 54 hectare green lung is the place where the two tributaries of the Braamfontein Spruit meet, set in almost park-like surrounds in the heart of the northern suburbs. Johannesburg’s zoo is home to 2070 animals.
Museum Africa
Not only is Museum Africa one of the most beautiful buildings where it lies right next door to the Market Theatre complex in Bree Street, Newtown, but it is also a museum with a difference - people who have visited museums throughout the world remark at the interesting and unique approach it showcases.
Nelson Mandela Bridge
The largest cable-stayed bridge in South Africa, the 284 metre long Nelson Mandela Bridge, starts virtually at the end of Jan Smuts Avenue and links the Constitutional Hill precinct in Braamfontein to the Cultural precinct in Newtown, in the heart of the city’s inner city renewal project.
Newtown Cultural Precinct
Situated in Johannesburg’s inner-city, Newtown forms the heart of the city’s regeneration and reinvention of itself. It’s a fairly large area that lies sandwiched between the railway lines to the north, the M2 highway in the south and bounded in the east and west by West Street and Quinn Street respectively.
SAB World of Beer
What beer enthusiast do you know who would turn down the chance of two ice cold frosties after a tour that encompasses the art of beer-making and brewing? Since openings its doors over ten years ago, the World of Beer has become an enormously popular attraction for both visitors and South Africans.
Soweto and Surrounding Areas Tour
Freedom Square (Kliptown)
The site of the signing of the historic Freedom Charter by anti-apartheid organizations in 1955 is to be the center of a massive upgrade project to revive the Kliptown area. The square will be renamed Walter Sisulu Square in honor of the late former ANC leader.
Baragwanath Taxi Rank
Baragwanath taxi rank, the biggest and busiest bus and taxi rank in Soweto, Hector
Pieterson Museum
Hector Pieterson (1964 - 16 June 1976) became the iconic image of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where school children protested over the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools, when a news photograph by Sam Mzima of the dying Hector being carried by a fellow student, was published around the world.
For years, 16 June stood as a symbol of resistance to the brutality of the apartheid government. Today, it's known as National Youth Day - a day on which South Africans honour young people and bring attention to their dynamic needs.
Regina Mundi Church
No trip to Soweto in Johannesburg is complete without a visit to Regina Mundi, the largest Catholic Church in the most populous black urban residential area in the country.
Not only has the vast church always been a spiritual haven for thousands of Sowetans, it has also played a pivotal role in the township's history of resistance against apartheid. As such it is a well-circled destination on the tourist map: every day the church opens its doors to streams of visitors keen to witness the scars it still bears from the Soweto uprisings, when police stormed through its doors, firing live ammunition at fleeing students.
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital
Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the largest hospital in the world, occupying 173 acres (0.70 km2), with 3 200 beds and 6 760 staff members. The hospital is in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is one of the 40 Gauteng provincial hospitals, and is financed and run by the Gauteng Provincial Health Authorities.
Mandela House Museum
Nelson Mandela's humble little house in Orlando West, Soweto, now called the
Mandela Family Museum ,is an interesting stopover for those keen to imbibe a slice of authentic history on the world's most famous former prisoner. The Mandela House attracts thousands of visitors each year. It has been returned to its former humble, three-roomed lay-out, with concrete floors and the corrugated roof visible from inside Video and audio recordings run continuously.
First National Bank Stadium (FNB Stadium or Soccer City)
Located in Johannesburg next to the South African Football Association headquarters (SAFA House) where both the FIFA offices and the Local Organizing Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was housed. A football-specific stadium, the FNB Stadium capacity seats 80,000+ people in plastic bucket seats. The stadium has the third largest capacity in Africa. Most of the largest football events in South Africa are played at this stadium.
|
