Campus and city
Wits is centred on its historic Braamfontein and Parktown campuses in inner Johannesburg, spanning seven campuses plus the Sterkfontein Caves and a rural campus in Mpumalanga, with about 20% of students living in residence. Student life is energetic and politically engaged — Wits has been at the centre of South African student activism from the anti-apartheid era through #FeesMustFall — with strong sport, a wide range of societies and a culturally diverse, pan-African student body. It is a true big-city university woven into Johannesburg's economic and cultural heart, with the trade-offs that come with that: students navigate city-safety considerations and periodic electricity load-shedding, balanced against access to the country's commercial capital, the 2025 Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, the Wits Art Museum and a thriving Braamfontein scene.