Dr Mariët Westermann, vice-president of the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, long-running supporters of UCT, visited the university in March.

Over her six-day call - packed wall-to-wall with meetings - Westermann met with university executives and a procession of academic and PASS heads to familiarise herself with life at UCT.

Stops on her visit included those offices responsible for managing and running Mellon-funded academic development and scholarship programmes.

A fine-arts historian, Westermann also enjoyed guided tours of the National Museum and the National Gallery, and spent some time viewing the South African College of Music's Kirby Collection of indigenous instruments with (in picture, from left) curator Michael Nixon; Dr Stuart Saunders, the former UCT vice-chancellor who is now a senior advisor to the Mellon Foundation; and college director, Dr Morné Bezuidenhout.