



Join the Residence Life Programme

The RLP is a residential programme aimed at uniting faith and study. Students sign up annually to live at our middle-campus res, participate in Christian community and service, receive mentoring, share weekly meals, and take our voluntary theological training courses. (These run mostly in the holidays).
Join the Gap-Year Programme

The gap-year programme offers school-leavers the opportunity to experience student life at the Y, visit campus, find out more about UCT faculties and courses of interest, sharpen your study skills, and deepen your theological knowledge—with plenty of time left to travel or work part-time.
WHAT WE OFFER
The Student Y is about sharing life together, being formed spiritually, engaging in scholarship, and giving of ourselves in service.

Coffee lounge
The Student Y is a place on UCT Middle Campus that you can come to during the week for coffee, […]

Meals Together
We have regular occasions on which we eat and share together. Meals are usually offered on a donate-if-you-can basis.

Skilled mentors
An important part of spiritual formation is having qualified people to provide guidance. While there is significant student leadership and […]

Group studies
Important growth in the faith and as people takes place in relationships. Getting involved in a Bible study, reading group, […]

Scholarship
Our context is that of a research university. Our participation in that context involves the production of training modules of […]

Public lectures
We host public meetings and conferences featuring the work of staff or outside scholars.

Service
We aim to serve the campus, churches, and the wider world in various ways (and to instil this desire in […]
Latest News & Events
Coronavirus Media Available
UCT was one of the places earliest hit by Coronavirus in South Africa and immediately responded by closing the campus. […]
You can help
The Student YMCA is interdenominational and relies entirely on the generosity of private and corporate partners
OUR ALUMNI
Studying at UCT was a huge adjustment for me. Luckily, within the first few months, I found a community in an office on Middle Campus, which was literally open for anyone. I walked inside, was welcomed warmly, and got a cup of tea and a friendly conversation on the purple couch. Since that day, I went to that office every day. The Y was the place I could call home during my time at university; it was where newly found family was, it was a place where people tried to understand me, and were willing to accept me for who I am, but who wanted to see changes in me through God’s word.

Xacvier Klassen
Volunteer exchange program coordinator at Visioneers
When I look back, I can see how God used the Y to shape me for life after university, in ways I never would have expected. I used to think that I needed to be in some sort of ‘full-time ministry’ position in order to be part of what God was doing in our world, but through the Y, God opened my mind and eyes to see how we can follow Jesus right where we are, whatever we are doing; we can join him in his mission in every sphere of our lives. I learnt that making disciples of Jesus is slow, and deeply relational. If we want to follow our Lord into the journey of discipleship, he calls us to walk in deep relationships with people, sharing Jesus and our lives with whomever comes across our paths.

Grant Lombard
Teacher at Stirling High School
The Y equipped me with tools for studying the Bible on my own so that I am able to make sense of the world I am currently living in through the lens of Scripture. At the Student Y I was taught to question and that there are answers in Scripture. The Y laid foundations for my walk with the Lord—teaching me that all things belong to God and that there is no secular/sacred divide.
