The year 2025 was the Fitz’s 65th anniversary. The core raison d’être of the Fitz continues to be a centre of excellent research and scholarship.
Today, the Fitz is the only institution of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It is arguably the most active of its kind in the world, in terms of its programmes of both research and education. It has produced more than 250 MSc and PhD students from 40 countries, 23 being in Africa. The Institute was identified as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2004. Due to economic pressures faced by the NRF, the programme was wrapped up in 2022 and the Fitz's contract officially ended in September 2023.