Course General Description

The Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) programme is a three-year, full-time course of study offering a gateway to a potentially diverse field of professional career paths, both within the architectural discipline or peripheral to it. Architecture is the generation of social and cultural heritage in the form of built spaces. It is a profession with long-lasting influences and consequences for both current and future generations. Although architects are primarily responsible for the design of buildings and their surrounding environments, the profession is evolving to include other important forms of design, including space planning, building materials, and the integration of the built and ecological environments, amongst other possibilities. The BAS programme is structured to produce graduates who can participate across a broad field of professions in both the larger design and construction industries. Due to the integration of courses and emphasis on coordinated application of skills, part-time studies are not available, although in exceptional circumstances it may be possible to spread some years of study over more than one year, with appropriate planning and approval by the degree convenor.

School General Description

Commonly known as “Wits”, the University of the Witwatersrand developed out of the South African School of Mines, set up in Kimberley in 1896. The institution moved to Johannesburg in 1904 and acquired full university status in 1922. From the start, it embraced a philosophy of non-discrimination on the basis of race, which led to intense conflict with the government - including police raids and the detention of both faculty and students - during the apartheid era. The university has an enrolment of 40,259 students as of 2018, of which approximately 20 percent live on campus in the university's 17 residences. 63 percent of the university's total enrolment is for undergraduate study, with 35 percent being postgraduate and the remaining 2 percent being Occasional Students.