St Augustine College, is a Catholic institution of higher learning, located in Victory Park, Johannesburg, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
We are big enough to make a difference and small enough to care about all our students.
St Augustine College aspires to be a leading African institution of higher learning in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition promoting ethical leadership, dignity of the human person, and the common good.
At present, we offer the following undergraduate degrees:
+ BA in Liberal Arts
+ BCom
+ BTh
Our postgraduate degrees include:
+ BA(Hons) in Peace Studies
+ BTh(Hons)
+ MPhil in Applied Ethics with specialisations in Business Ethics as well as Social and Political Ethics
+ MPhil in Culture and Education with specialisation in Educational Leadership
+ MPhil in Philosophy
+ MPhil in Theology with specialisations in (1) Fundamental and Systematic Theology, (2) Christian Spirituality, and (3) Pastoral Theology
+ Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy
+ Doctor of Philosophy in Theology
In addition, we offer a 2-year distance-learning programme for the Higher Certificate in Biblical Studies.
Special features which make St Augustine's different include:
- Our vision of higher education is rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.
- We aim at promoting ethical leadership, dignity of the human person, and the common good.
- We pride ourselves on being a member of the global network of the Catholic universities, many of which are the best universities in the world: SAC belongs to the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU) as well as the Association of Catholic Universities and Institutes of Africa and Madagascar (ACUIAM)
- St Augustine is accredited by the CHE and the Department of Education.
- Even though we are a private institution, our fees are comparable to those at state universities; what is more, thanks to the generosity of our donors across the globe scholarships for students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds are available.
- Due to our high educational standards and personalised tuition we have a very high pass rate (over 80%) when compared with other South African universities.
- The College library currently has 40,000 books and grows monthly with new acquisitions of books and journals in the various fields of study. We also have a unique collection of books brought to South Africa by Bishop Grimley - the so-called Grimley Library - which is one of the oldest libraries in South Africa containing many valuable books dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
- We are committed to small lecture classes and giving our students individual attention.
Our Vision and Mission Statement
To be a leading African institution of higher learning in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition promoting ethical leadership, dignity of the human person, and the common good.
Our mission is underpinned by the following values:
• human dignity (the freedom and dignity of the individual)
• solidarity (mutual connection, inclusiveness and obligation to each other)
• stewardship (responsibility and accountability, for the common good)
• justice, including the preferential option for the poor
• critical realism
• creative, imaginative thinking
We aim to:
• educate students to be to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skilfully to advance the common good. With its emphasis on the dignity of the human person and its conviction about the ethical value of solidarity, St Augustine’s can help South Africa develop a more just and equitable society that respects persons not only for what they can produce, but for who they are as persons who have their origins in God, the Creator of all.
We fulfil our mission through:
• Rigorous intellectual enquiry which provides a theological, philosophical and ethical worldview that arises out of the Catholic intellectual tradition and a consideration of its implications for personal and communal life. Such enquiry includes challenging the prevailing rigid distinctions between fact and value so that we can train both intellectual and ethical leadership; challenging the tendency to separate public and private realms and to relegate serious moral issues to the academic sidelines and encouraging interdisciplinary, integrative and evaluative thinking.
• Values-based Teaching where we offer a critically grounded, values-based education for the development and renewal of the southern region of Africa and for the whole continent of Africa We seek to so teach in ways that students are challenged to engage in rigorous thinking and appreciative reflection, recognising the relationship that exists between faith and reason. Our Catholic intellectual tradition empowers us to be dedicated to the pursuit of truth. We seek to accompany students in their fields of study so that the knowledge they gain will empower them and lead them to the wisdom that is necessary for integrated and holistic living in society.
• Challenging Research where, aware of our responsibility to serve the broader society, we contribute the resources of the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teaching in considering and engaging critically with such diverse realities as culture and religion, philosophy and politics, business and ethics, science and society within the African context.
We are one of the few private institutions of higher learning in South Africa to design and develop its own degrees. All the degrees at St Augustine's are approved and accredited by the Council for Higher Education, the South African Qualifications Authority, and registered with the Department of Education as those of a Private Higher Education Institution.
In South Africa, only 10% of South African students get their degrees from private institutions and almost 50% of students get a degree from UNISA. This indicates two things: the need for more face-to-face institutions of higher education; and that private independent tertiary education is relatively new in South Africa. As a private higher education institution, we are able to offer smaller classes, state of the art lecture rooms and more personalised tuition, all of which enable you to master your chosen subjects.
Our undergraduate degrees include:
+ BA
+BTh
Our postgraduate degrees include:
+ BA(Hons) in Peace Studies
+BA(Hons) in Philosophy
+ BTh(Hons)
+ MPhil in Applied Ethics with specialisations in Business Ethics as well as Social and Political Ethics
+ MPhil in Culture and Education with specialisation in Educational Leadership
+ MPhil in Philosophy
+ MPhil in Theology with specialisations in (1) Fundamental and Systematic Theology, (2) Christian Spirituality, and (3) Pastoral Theology
+ Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy
+ Doctor of Philosophy in Theology
In addition, we offer a 2-year distance-learning programme for the Higher Certificate in Biblical Studies.