The South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED) was launched in 1959 by a small committee. At the time it supported black students that were excluded from white Universities by the Extension of Universities Act of 1959, which regulated racially and ethnically separate Universities. From these early beginnings, SACHED extended its work in distance education, and to reach those communities who were being denied basic educational access - workers, women, rural people, marginalised youth and the unemployed. In the 1970s it supported adults studying at secondary school level, especially teachers, and developed unique support programmes for tertiary level students at the University of South Africa (UNISA). From 1981 SACHED played a role in supporting mass-based organisations in their resistance to Apartheid. Educational programmes were developed with trade unions and community organisations, while SACHED's educational media aimed to build a learning culture among South Africa's youth.