The Transvaal University College, with branches in Johannesburg and Pretoria, took the examinations of the Cape University. The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, which started classes in 1908 in the house Kya Rosa, in Skinner Street, became an autonomous institution by Act No 1 of 1910, largely through efforts by General J.C. Smuts. This institution was the forerunner of the Pretoria University, which came into existence on 29 November 1929. In 1930, the University was established as an independent university by the Private Act on the University of Pretoria (Act No. 13 of 1930). In 1932 the University Council resolved that the university would provide tuition for primarily Afrikaans-speaking students. Since the 1990s the profile of the institution has been transformed from a mainly White, Afrikaans institution, to a bilingual national university accessible to all South Africans.
'Pretoria 1855-2005: Chronologie 1798-1935', Bylaag tot Rekord.| Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 9, p. 110.