STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY, Stellenbosch.
The arms may be blazoned:
Arms: Quarterly: I and IV: Or, three towers gules 2 and 1; II: Azure, the head of the Roman goddess Minerva wearing a winged helmet, argent; III: Azure, three oak twigs each with two leaves below and an acorn above, argent, 2 and 1; Upon an inescutcheon sable, an open book proper, with a red initial letter S in upper dexter, and with two seals, one red and one blue, hanging from the book.
Crest: A forearm issuant from the wreath, vested gules, cuffed or, holding a burning torch.
Wreath and mantling: Gules and or.
Motto: Pectora roborant cultus recti.
About the arms:
These arms were taken into use in 1918 and are an adaptation of the arms of Victoria College. But where the college arms were essentially an assumption of the town arms, as then borne, changes were made to the device to make it a completely new coat of arms.
The towers come from the original family coat of arms of Governor Simon van der Stel, and appear in this form (2 and 1) in the arms of the town of Stellenbosch, to which a fess with further charges has been added.
The quarterly shield is reminiscent of the arms as borne by Van der Stel, in which he divided the towers, two in the first quarter and one in the fourth.
The blue quarters are also taken from Van der Stel’s arms, but the charges are entirely different. Nonetheless the pattern of a single charge in the second quarter and three in the third is repeated.
Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, also known (in the Greek pantheon) as Pallas Athene, is a symbol of learning. She symbolises the university’s striving. Minerva also appeared in the arms of the Transvaal University College.
The oak twigs symbolise the oaks which Van der Stel had planted in Stellenbosch, and which are characteristic of the town and especially of the university campus. The university sees the tree as a symbol of power and security.
The arrangement of the annulets is the conventional 2 and 1, instead of the 1 and 2 style used in the old town arms. The pattern follows that used by the arms as borne by Victoria College.
An oak twig also appears in the crest of the town arms.
The black inescutcheon echoes the inescutcheon in the arms of Van der Stel, in which he honoured his grandmother, Monica da Costa. But instead of the crescents which he used instead of the bones of Da Costa, this inescutcheon is charged with a book, also a symbol of learning.
In the upper dexter corner of the book is the initial letter S, which stands for Stellenbosch. Sometimes it appears as US (Universiteit Stellenbosch).
The hand holding the torch would seem to symbolise not only learning, but also the struggle for Afrikaner intellectual independence, in which the university was a leader for much of the 20th century.
Since 1994 this aspect of the symbolism has been less emphasised, because of the negative aspects of Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid, but the university remains a leader in the field of Afrikaans culture and the survival of the Afrikaanse language.
On the campus, apartheid is something of the past – the university goes out of its way to accommodate students of all races – but academic standards are maintained and extended.
At the same time, however, English is being used more and more. Whereas medical students used to study their entire course in Afrikaans, first-year medical students can now choose English or Afrikaans, and from second year onwards their courses are entirely in English.
The motto translates as “A good education strengthens the character.” (A footnote by a Stellenbosch professor points out that pectora literally means the chest cavity, and by extension the inner man.)
The motto was taken over directly from Victoria College (the town’s motto was taken into use later, and is quite different), but is now in the normal position below the shield, where in the college arms it appeared above.
About the university:
Acts of Parliament passed in 1916, which became effective on 2 April 1918, raised the South African College and Victoria College to independent universities, and transformed the University of the Cape of Good Hope (which until this stage had been the examining body for the colleges in Cape Town and Stellenbosch) into the University of South Africa, with wider responsibilities.
The Governor-General signed the two Acts on the same day, that for the university at Stellenbosch being signed first, and that for Cape Town perhaps five minutes later. This makes Stellenbosch University five minutes older than the University of Cape Town.
The newly created Stellenbosch University now became the country’s first “Dutch” university, and Afrikaans was gradually introduced as well. It was still small, but in the half-century that followed, generous donations ensured that new buildings, new facilities and, from time to time, new faculties were provided.
The engineering faculty was set up in 1944, and was the first in the country to offer a five-year bachelor’s degree course.
The faculties of forestry and military science are unique in this country.
The military faculty was established in 1961 and trains officers for the army, air force and navy; the faculty operates at the Military Academy in Saldanha.
In 1963 the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk seminary was incorporated into the university as a full theology faculty.
A conservatory of music, sections for domestic science and physical education, departments of fine art, drama social work and library science, African studies and nutrition technology.
An extra-mural division of the faculties of business management and administration was established in 1958 at Bellville.
Also in Bellville is a medical faculty, started in 1956 at the Karl Bremer Hospital, which was subsequently moved to Tygerberg Hospital.
The official Afrikaans dictionary, Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal, is a project of the university which is based in the Administration building.
The university is also a partner (with the University of Cape Town) in the Nuclear Insitute of the Southern Universities at Faure, which uses a 6 Me.V (six-mega-electron-volt) Van de Graaf accelerator for advanced research in nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry and nuclear engineering.
The university’s own website is here, and it includes a page about the institution’s history.
University nickname:
When the students at Stellenbosch began wearing blazers, these were wine-red with blue and yellow stripes. Among the students the wine-red colour was nicknamed tamatie-rooi (tomato red), and from the derisory term “Tamaties” (Tomatoes) came the nickname Maties (“Mateys”).
As a result the campus is tagged Matieland.
Vir Afrikaans, kliek hier
Back to Armoria academica index
Remarks, queries: Mike Oettle