Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The University of Transkei (UNITRA) was established in Umtata in 1976 at the request of the Government of the Transkei Homeland, initially as a branch of the University of Fort Hare. Its mission was to offer educational opportunities to the largely rural population, and to upgrade the qualifications of teachers and civil servants who hitherto had been denied the chance to attend higher education institutions by Apartheid policies. Legislation in 1976 provided for the establishment of an autonomous University, which officially opened in 1977. It experienced rapid expansion in the following decade.
During the 1980s, when resistance to the Apartheid regime was occurring throughout South Africa, there were several instances of demonstrations and unrest among the students at Transkei. The papers in this collection document some of these events.