Ferguson founded Huguenot University College after the 1886 Witwatersrand Gold Rush as the first women's college in South Africa. The Seminary and University College were the first to provide an advanced level of education for South African women and taught many to become teachers and missionaries in Southern Africa. Bliss became principal of the high school in 1899, a position she held until she was appointed president of the University College in 1911, after the retirement of Ferguson, its first president.
