Welcome to Summer School 2027

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2027 UCT Summer School –
a celebration of curiosity, conversation and lifelong learning.

This year’s programme brings together an exceptional blend of scholars, researchers, writers, artists and practitioners to explore the questions shaping our world today. With sustainability as the thread running through the programme, we invite you to engage with subjects as varied as artificial intelligence and neuroscience, democracy and social justice, housing and urban life, public health, climate and conservation, history, literature, music and the creative arts.

Alongside our traditional lectures and courses, the 2027 programme includes performances and lecture-recitals, panel discussions, workshops, book-related events, campus tours and excursions across Cape Town. From exploring UCT’s greenest building and the heritage of our campus, to encountering the pipe organ at St Andrew’s De Waterkant, or stepping inside an artist’s studio, the 2027 edition of the Summer School offers everyone the opportunity to learn and engage with people, experiences and ideas both inside and beyond the lecture theatre.

We are especially proud to showcase the depth of scholarship and research across UCT, with contributions from the Neuroscience Institute, Centre of Criminology, Land and Accountability Research Centre, School of Public Health, and other departments and centres across our institution.
 

Click here for to browse the 2027 Summer School

Welcome to Summer School 2027

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2027 UCT Summer School –
a celebration of curiosity, conversation and lifelong learning.

This year’s programme brings together an exceptional blend of scholars, researchers, writers, artists and practitioners to explore the questions shaping our world today. With sustainability as the thread running through the programme, we invite you to engage with subjects as varied as artificial intelligence and neuroscience, democracy and social justice, housing and urban life, public health, climate and conservation, history, literature, music and the creative arts.

Alongside our traditional lectures and courses, the 2027 programme includes performances and lecture-recitals, panel discussions, workshops, book-related events, campus tours and excursions across Cape Town. From exploring UCT’s greenest building and the heritage of our campus, to encountering the pipe organ at St Andrew’s De Waterkant, or stepping inside an artist’s studio, the 2027 edition of the Summer School offers everyone the opportunity to learn and engage with people, experiences and ideas both inside and beyond the lecture theatre.

We are especially proud to showcase the depth of scholarship and research across UCT, with contributions from the Neuroscience Institute, Centre of Criminology, Land and Accountability Research Centre, School of Public Health, and other departments and centres across our institution.
 

Click here for to browse the 2027 Summer School

2027 Summer School dates: 18-30 January : booking now open

Click here for the 2027 Summer School Brochure

Welcome to the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies. Our extra-mural education programme is about educational and intellectual activities that enrich the mind. The aim is to stimulate the mind in areas which traditionally is left out of adult formal education. UCT’s Summer School is precisely such a programme. It contributes to the development of an informed citizenry and a culture of democracy. Summer School is a festival of knowledge and ideas where members of the general public experience what it means to be a student of the Universe in the broad sense of the word. In this way our work contributes directly to the university’s obligations to society, one of which is to stimulate critical debate and discussion.

But we also offer, for those who need a more skills or vocationally based course, practical courses in art, language and writing. For more information visit our short course page. Some of us are also challenged by a fast-changing digital world. We also host regular talks on new developments in technology such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and coding.

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