Summer School is intellectual melting pot

Brush-up: Artist Colette Cetto at work during the Abstraction and Nature: Landscape Painting course, at the UCT Summer School

The otherwise quiet campus came alive at the start of the week when the 59th UCT Summer School flung open its doors of learning.

Hundreds of lifelong learners made their way onto the campus, a diverse community that includes many regulars each year.

The annual programme offers a wide range of short courses to the public, some showcasing recent university research, others designed to hone writing and painting skills, and others to stimulate debate.

"It's our annual intellectual and cultural immersion," one Summer Schooler said after attending the Renaissance Gardens class. She had also signed up for the programme on the Art Collection of Charles I.

Summer School ends on 30 January.