Campus abuzz with Summer School

To the letter: Chinese Brush Painting for All is one of the many popular courses run at the UCT Summer School, on now.

UCT's ever-popular Summer School - now in its 58th year '“ has upper campus all astir.

Just under 3 000 people have already registered for the school's more than 50 courses, which started on Monday, 21 January. Run by the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies (EMS), the two-week Summer School caters to just about every taste in learning, covering everything from the Olympic Games to Tuscan art, money laundering to existentialism, Chinese brush painting to online social networking.

As usual, a couple of courses are pulling in crowds by the score. Early hits included the double lecture on the treasures under guard in the Moscow Kremlin and the course on Cape Town's beleaguered transport system (attended by Mayor Helen Zille), while next week's course on climate change is also generating buzz.

Word of the Summer School appears to be spreading far and wide, says Terrill Nicolay of the EMS. A growing number of international visitors are signing up each year.