The historic buildings on the Bird Street Campus are home to the university’s Art Gallery as well as the School of Music, Art and Design’s Visual Arts postgraduate programmes, the Visual Arts Incubator, and the Department of Music’s pre-tertiary programme.

The offices of the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Centre, and those of three research Chairs (Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation, Identities and Social Cohesion in Africa, and Youth Unemployment) are also located on the campus.