Extension of University Education Act

South Africa [1959]

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June 26, 2026

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The Extension of University Education Act was a South African law enacted in 1959 as part of the apartheid system. This act prohibited non-white students from attending existing universities, which were predominantly for white students. Instead, the government established separate university colleges based on ethnic and linguistic lines for Black, Coloured, and Indian students. This legislation reinforced racial segregation in higher education, limiting opportunities for non-white South Africans and ensuring that educational institutions reflected the government's policy of racial separation and white supremacy.123

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Bantu Education Act
…attending open universities by the Extension of University Education Act (1959). The Bantu Education Act was replaced by the Education and Training Act of 1979. Mandatory segregation in education ended with the passage of the South African Schools Act in 1996, but decades of substandard education and barriers to entrance…
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…attending open universities by the Extension of University Education Act (1959). The Bantu Education Act was replaced by the Education and Training Act of 1979. Mandatory segregation in education ended with the passage of the South African Schools Act in 1996, but decades of substandard education and barriers to entrance…
Read More

education
South Africa
By the Extension of University Education Act in 1959, nonwhites were barred from entrance to white universities, and separate university colleges were set up on an ethnic-linguistic basis. This well-organized system of differentiating groups began to break down, however, as first English and then Afrikaans universities stated…
Read More
By the Extension of University Education Act in 1959, nonwhites were barred from entrance to white universities, and separate university colleges were set up on an ethnic-linguistic basis. This well-organized system of differentiating groups began to break down, however, as first English and then Afrikaans universities stated…
Read More