Universities South Africa
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Universities’ on-going commitment to multilingualism
As South African public universities come to terms with the complexities of multilingualism, many are making notable inroads into implementing multilingual teaching on their campuses....
Sharing language resources for the benefit of all
Universities need to collaborate to meet the objectives of the Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages (CoPAL) of Universities South...
CoPAL meeting of 20 March 2025
On 20 March, the CoPAL hosted its first 2025 meeting online. Some forty (40) CoPAL members from nineteen (19) of the twenty-six (26) public universities...
Executive Secretaries’ annual workshop 2024 tackles leadership and adaptability in times of change in Higher Education
The annual workshop 2024 for Personal Assistants (PAs) and Executive Secretaries in the Vice-Chancellors’ Office was hosted on 5-6 December 2024 at the Protea Hotel...
Goodbyes in the TLM CoP as two office bearers vacate their seats for new incumbents
The extensive achievements of Universities South Africa’s (USAf) Teaching and Learning of Mathematics Community of Practice (TLM CoP) were named, and applauded, at the group’s...
Two new office bearers elected to lead Universities South Africa’s TLM CoP from 1 January 2025
At its last sitting for 2025, on 13 November, the Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (TLM CoP) elected a new...
Intervarsity 2023 winner pledges to give back to the EDHE programme that supported him
There was thunderous applause when a young student farmer from rural Eastern Cape and Studentpreneur of 2023, committed at the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals on...
WiL alumni gathering in 2025: sustaining the momentum
A significant gathering of the Higher Education Leadership and Management’s (HELM’s) Women in Leadership (WiL) alumni is set for early 2025, and is envisioned as...
Early career academics talk about being mentored — what works and what could work better
When Dr Heike Lucht, a research assistant at the University of Pretoria, was paired with a mentor affiliated with Rhodes University (RU) through an online...
Education must reclaim its place as a means to the betterment of life
If Dr Mimmy Gondwe could have her way, all higher education graduates would be fully active in the economy – selling and even exporting their...
Growing a movement: Women in Leadership (WiL)
The final session of the 2024 Women in Leadership (WiL) programme on 1 November 2024 began with a seemingly simple but profoundly symbolic activity: a...
Effective mentoring can be about making people independent of any need for guidance
Mentoring does not have an end point - even if someone is on a specific mentoring programme with a cutoff date. “I hope when you...
Transforming entrepreneurship education; Elona Ndlovu’s perspective
During Day 2 of the 3rd Higher Education Conference by Universities South Africa, Ms Elona Ndlovu, a Chartered Coach and Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the...
South Africans can access billions of Euros’ worth of research grants via the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation
Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) 3rd Higher Education Conference in October 2024 revealed that the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) has a host of...
Impactful research case studies must demonstrate societal changes already achieved, not hoped-for
In May 2024, Universities South Africa (USAf) initiated a groundbreaking project to showcase how the 26 public universities it represents are making an impact on...
Funding research for impact can transform lives, says NRF executive director
Funding research is not only about handing out money. It is an investment that can extend far beyond the actual qualification it might provide for....
The SA universities’ SDGs study provokes animated response from conference delegates
The release of the South African Universities – Mapping the Sustainable Development Goals report generated a multitude of responses at USAf’s 3rd Higher Education Conference...
SA universities’ contribution to Sustainable Development Goals unveiled at the HE Conference 2024
During 2023, Universities South Africa (USAf) commissioned a study to map the contributions of the country’s 26 public universities to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)....
University councils need an overhaul if they are to perform their fiduciary functions effectively
“I am concerned that governance challenges continue to plague some universities, and there is a need for both a code of good governance practices and...
Universities South Africa’s 3rd Higher Education Conference starts in Pretoria today
South Africa’s universities converge in Pretoria this week for the 3rd Higher Education Conference starting at the International Convention Centre of the Council for Scientific and...
A feisty political scholar and analyst is set to address Universities SA’s Higher Education Conference in 2024
He is an accomplished scholar and former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand – a term he held for seven and a...
Relief in higher education as the National Students Financial Aid Scheme responds positively to persistent issues
Vice-Chancellors of public universities expressed relief at the constructive spirit demonstrated by the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Administrator, Mr Freeman Nomvalo, during a...
National Graduate Academy for Mathematics and Statistics knocks on USAf’s door for all-inclusive support
In pursuit of excellence in mathematics and statistics at South Africa’s public universities, the National Graduate Academy for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences – NGA(MaSS) presented...
Teacher competency and passion in mathematics are vital for nurturing mathematical talent and love in students
Appropriate levels of mathematics competency and passion in the subject can bring out the best in students, raising their competency in and love for the...
The Education Deans’ Forum expresses concern over funding crisis
The year 2024 is a difficult time to be a leader in higher education, considering diminishing government funding evident in the National Student Financial Aid...
An after-school play and learn facility for pupils wins student R10 000
A staggering 250 000 learners drop out of school in South Africa, with 81% of Grade 4 learners proven for not being able to read for...
Biking delivery company clinches first runner-up position at Intervarsity 2023
Mr Colin Mkosi, Founder of a delivery company called Cloudy Deliveries asked the audience at the Intervarsity 2023 finals if they had ever wondered how...
A company striving to reduce food waste wins Entrepreneurship Intervarsity in the Social Impact Category
“One of the biggest reasons for food insecurity is food waste. There is way more food in the value chain than we actually use. A...
The deadline is today for registering to attend the discussion by Professor Adam Habib and Dr Max Price on student protests
Today marks the deadline for registering to attend a webinar and panel discussion led by Professor Adam Habib and Dr Max Price. At the peak...
Professors Francis Petersen and Rushiella Soncga take over the Universities South Africa’s leadership from 2024
Professor Francis Petersen (left), Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Free State, has been elected the new Chairperson of the Board of...
The Universities South Africa Board of Directors endorses the 2024 focus areas of its strategy groups
Funding Strategy Group (FSG) At the ordinary meeting of Universities South Africa’s Board of Directors, the Chairperson of the Funding Strategy Group (FSG), Professor Bismark...
Professor Adam Habib and Dr Max Price to reflect on how they navigated the 2015 to 2016 fallist movements
To look at how student protests of 2015 and 2016 impacted and continue to shape the local and other higher education landscapes today, the University...
Professor Adam Habib and Dr Max Price to reflect on how they navigated the 2015 to 2016 fallist movements
To look at how student protests of 2015 and 2016 impacted and continue to shape the local and other higher education landscapes today, the University...
Artificial Intelligence In Academia
This podcast explores the transformative journey of Artificial Intelligence in academia. Discover how AI revolutionises teaching, learning, and research, and delve into how educators and...
A design justice approach to Universal Design for Learning: Perspectives from the Global South
This chapter focuses on the issue of exclusion in higher education and how to promote inclusivity by implementing UDL principles within a larger social and...
Academic mobility is about a lot more than students travelling between countries
Professor Loyiso Nongxa started his presentation at Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) Research and Innovation Dialogue by declaring he was a dinosaur. He used to work at...
SA needs a serious rethink of postgraduate study if it is to address the declining uptake – especially in local students
Fewer and fewer South Africans are undertaking postgraduate studies. A national review of South African doctoral qualifications between 2020 and 2021 revealed that 56.7% of...
Student mobility was a hot topic at USAf’s Research and Innovation Dialogue
Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) 7th Biennial Research and Innovation Dialogue lived up to its name of being a dialogue, a conversation, when a discussion in...
Universities are key actors in creating vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystems for sustainable prosperity and development
The university can be an excellent player in ecosystem development, enabling an environment in which entrepreneurship contributes to achieving sustainable development and societal changes. So...
What happens in neighbouring Thohoyandou is our business, says UNIVEN’s Professor Vhonani Netshandama
At the recent Universities South Africa’s (USAf) 7th Biennial Research and Innovation (R&I) Dialogue 2023, held on 21 and 22 September in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, delegates...
Early findings show internationalisation is seen as part of SA universities’ core missions
Internationalisation is well embedded in the context of the core missions of South African universities, including research, teaching & learning and engagement. This emerged from...
Unpacking what went into the rapid trajectory of a successful Canadian university
The successful ecosystem-enabling experiences that drive social innovation and entrepreneurship at a Canadian university were shared with South African institutions and stakeholders at the 7th...
A clear vision and involved leadership; a recipe for achieving entrepreneurship and innovation goals
With only a decade in existence, the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) has an ambitious vision of becoming “an African university, leading in creating opportunities for...
Societally impactful research is already taking place in South Africa; institutions must locate the evidence and be more intentional about this approach
How can universities create impact with their research? Just start monitoring it, was the overriding message at a discussion on this topic at the 7th...
Africa, wake up and see your wealth creation and development potential – a visiting Ghanaian professor advises
Evidence of research and innovation generating jobs, sustaining wealth, and transforming societies for the better exists in so much abundance, globally, that Africa has no...
UCT’s Dr Linda Mtwisha calls for a national research impact assessment system
Dr Linda Mtwisha, the executive director of research at the University of Cape Town (UCT), said that it’s imperative to develop a national research impact...
Assessing the impact of university research is not complicated; it carries benefits for both the university and society, says Professor Chris Brink
Professor Chris Brink, who has been focusing on the societal impact of higher education research for about 10 years in both in the United Kingdom...
The HSRC’s Impact Centre is giving effect to the Council’s promise of “social science that makes a difference”
Creating impactful research in the knowledge system does not happen magically. Somebody needs to be driving it, says Professor Heidi van Rooyen, Group Executive: Impact...
South Africa is catching up with the globe on Open Access but needs to do more to reach desired goals
Even though South Africa has made significant advances towards achieving Open Access to scholarly publishing, there are hurdles to still overcome that require a concerted national...
The SA government must lead the Open Access movement to develop a national policy position and strategy
There is an urgent need for the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) in partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to...
What follows the Joint Colloquium of Mathematicians, Linguists and Education Deans?
The Joint Colloquium on Multilingualism in the teaching and learning of Mathematics in Higher Education –Enhancing Success achieved its intended objectives with success, says the...
Mathematics teachers in the Venda region of Limpopo need to disclose the secret behind their high success rate
South Africa needs to study why TshiVenda communities produce an astronomical number of actuaries for this country, and why the Venda region of the Limpopo...
State funding for universities’ language initiatives could increase with compelling evidence of potentially bigger impact
The year 2023 marks the first year that the government has given more money to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) – an amount...
The changing profile of university students calls for a decolonial re-thinking of higher education, says Professor Emmanuel Mgqwashu
Despite all the financial and human resources pumped into higher education in South Africa, the depressing educational outcomes remain the same. Throughput, pass and dropout...
Learners run away from any career that requires mathematical competence, says Dr Mxiwoxolo Krexe
At the recent Joint Colloquium on Multilingualism in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics – Enhancing Success, Dr Mziwoxolo Krexe of theDepartment of Adult, Foundation Phase...
A framework for thinking about languages and literacies towards university mathematics curriculum for access and transformation
To make a case for a curriculum that encourages greater access and transformation, a mathematics education language development specialist used students’ talk about their experiences,...
Language is fundamental, but is not always the only enabler for university mathematics success
Results from research into engineering mathematics of students in the University of Cape Town’s Engineering Extended Programme showed that female students (58.6%) outperformed their male...
Research exploring alternatives to one-size-fits-all solutions to students’ Academic Literacy needs
Critical research is being done into improving curriculum responsiveness to enhance responding to students’ needs in both teaching and assessment. This is to move away...
Why meaning making is critical in multilingual mathematics classrooms
Professor Anthony Essien, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education and Interim Numeracy Chair, Wits School of Education used a rainfall chart to show his audience how...
USAf’s Transformation Dialogue seeks to shift higher education from a compliance-driven to an innovation and inclusivity-driven transformation process
Is there real transformative activity taking place in higher education, or has this been a box-ticking exercise? This question spurred Universities South Africa’s (USAf) Transformation...
Multilingual mathematics classrooms can enhance learner understanding, change attitudes towards mathematics and increase success
Africa is endowed with works of art available for classroom illustration of various mathematical concepts from elementary schooling, all the way to university instruction —...
Multilingual education provision is invaluable provided this model is appropriately resourced, says a higher education top executive
Learning environments allowing students to exchange mathematical ideas in their mother tongue enable learners to grasp complex concepts more naturally and deeply, thereby turning multilingualism...
Issues warranting priority attention in universities’ pursuit of multilingualism in mathematics teaching and learning
Each of the three communities of practice (CoPs) that jointly hosted last week’s Colloquium on Multilingualism in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics – Enhancing...
USAf’s three groups congregate at Stellenbosch University this Thursday to explore multilingual mathematics education in higher education
About 70 delegates representing all public universities in South Africa are expected to descend on Stellenbosch University this Thursday, 17 August, 2023. These are members...
Exposure to Switzerland’s innovation and entrepreneurship landscape boosts confidence in a young South African
The founder of one South African student start-up that won a trip to a 10-day residency programme at the University of Basel in Switzerland, in...
Universities SA’s World of Work Strategy Group commits to an ambitious multi-year programme of action
Significant stakeholder engagements in the first half of 2023 sparked numerous project considerations in Universities South Africa’s World of Work Strategy Group (WSG) if the...
Key challenges created by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) place universities at risk of instability and being plunged deeper into debt
The Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf) is deeply concerned about the key challenges that have been created by the National Student Financial...
A high-level panel explores PhD production and support from various perspectives
A report on the first large-scale national Tracer Study of PhD and Post-doctoral Graduates was released last week creating a platform for experts to debate...
Universities’ loadshedding webinar yields a Working Group to help institutions set up energy initiatives
A Working Group has been established to draw up a framework that will enable the higher education sector to set up alternative energy projects in...
Managing its own solar plants has given the University of the Free State lots of research data
The University of the Free State (UFS) has adopted diverse measures to ensure energy efficiency. Not only do all campuses have solar plants, but one...
Nelson Mandela University’s experience of setting up a solar energy plant through a Power Purchase Agreement
Had Nelson Mandela University opted to use its own resources to set up the solar energy plant on its main campus, it would have cost...
An urgent need for more PhD and post-doctoral graduates emerges from Tracer Study
A comprehensive strategy to massively increase the number of PhD and post-doctoral graduates in South Africa, given the pivotal role they play in the country’s...
Startling Survey findings: SA is graduating fewer doctoral candidates
The country is simply not producing enough PhD graduates, and, by implication, post-doctoral fellows (post-docs). This was one of the crucial findings of a Tracer...
To counteract loadshedding effectively, universities first need to monitor their energy needs
The first step in addressing electricity supply at universities in this time of rolling blackouts is to do an energy audit. Institutions can start with...
Why universities should join forces to thrive, notwithstanding loadshedding
One mechanism universities could use to offset loadshedding is to coordinate a combined tender for the purchase of solar panels and batteries. Dr Lawrence Pratt,...
USAf explores sustainable energy solutions to mitigate the impact of the energy crisis on institutions
Universities SA (USAf) will host a webinar this Friday, 21 July, to deliberate on feasible and sustainable energy solutions as South Africa continues to grapple...
Universities are submitting very few creative outputs in African languages to DHET for credits
At the recent meeting in June, of Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice for the teaching and learning of African Languages (CoPAL), the Department of...
USAf’s three Communities of Practice to explore Multilingualism in the teaching and learning of mathematics at universities
August 17 is a very special day for Universities South Africa (USAf), the representative body of South Africa’s 26 public universities. It marks the gathering...
University leaders speak out on developing entrepreneurial thinking among undergraduates
If universities want to promote innovation at undergraduate level, they too need to be innovative and break away from traditional approaches of teaching and learning....
Strategies for institutionalising entrepreneurship; building an entrepreneurial university
Sound policies, adequate resources and identifying champions became recurring themes as past recipients of the annual Rising Star Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) and DVC of the...
At its core, social entrepreneurship is about driving positive social change
Cognisant that businesses of any kind ought to generate profit, Dr Paul Igwe, Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Enterprise and Programme Leader in the University...
A UCT research programme co-creates knowledge with adjacent communities
The relationship between the university and community engagement takes on a new nuance with the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Knowledge Co-op. Inspired by the...
An ICT Faculty discusses a technological solution-in-the-making for multilingual teaching at the Tshwane University of Technology
The best way to develop and intellectualise African languages in our universities is by using technology, says Professor Nobuhle Hlongwa, Chairperson of the Community of...
TUT showcases the rigor of its language policy processes and implementation infrastructure
Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) has added a third indigenous language to its revised policy. This change is part of the institution’s response to the...
Reflect and learn as a leader and change agent at your own institution
The sound of the late Tina Turner’s What’s love got to do with it enveloped the conference room. As the last few individuals took up...
Universities SA’s Education Deans’ Forum is leading the formation of a continent-wide collaboration platform
Inadequate funding, inadequate teacher training and limited access to educational resources are among numerous challenges that Africa seems to be grappling with, concerning education systems. It...
Deans must be adequately resourced to perform their multi-faceted functions at universities
A good look at South Africa’s education budget raises questions about whether the State resources this sector adequately, while another glimpse into universities raises the question...
Rationale for the inaugural Student Affairs and Student Success (SASS) capacity development programme
Student success is not coincidental and access without support is not a true opportunity for students in our universities. This was the message from Dr...
Universities’ Student Affairs, Development and Support Staff urged to identify as professionals, practitioners and knowledge workers
Upskill. Stay current. Read. And, most importantly, start seeing yourself as a professional practitioner whose multi-disciplinary expertise makes you as much a scholar as any...
New SASS programme hailed as a forerunner in professionalising universities’ Student Affairs and Support Services
It was with a sense of achievement that Dr Sibusiso Chalufu (right) praised a milestone programme designed to herald in the professionalisation of Student Affairs,...
Professionalising Student Affairs, Development and Support Services is the key to enhancing Student Success in higher education
The professionalisation of Student Affairs, Student Development and Support Services across the South African university sector is critical for improved student and all institutions’ success....
Universities South Africa celebrates the launch of two digital platforms for emerging scholars
The way South African universities have joined forces to help emerging scholars is of historical significance, says Dr Phethiwe Matutu, the chief executive officer of...
Some key pointers on signing up on Thuso Connect
Comment after comment at last week’s launch of Thuso Connect reinforced how this online mentoring platform for early career researchers is fulfilling a need in...
Accolades for the two new digital platforms that offer help to emerging researchers
A new digital platform that connects early researchers with experienced mentors has been compared to the online dating app, Tinder. “But instead of a...
Research Report: Student-centred universities
The study that Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) Transformation Strategy Group (TSG) embarked upon from 2020, titled Reshaping Universities to Create a Student-Centred Higher Education System...
Guidelines document: Student-centred universities
The Framework for a Student-centred Higher Education System is accompanied by a set of guidelines (i.e. Student-centred Guidelines) at universities’ disposal, when operationalising the Framework...
PowerPoint presentation: Student-centred universities
This PowerPoint presentation summarises the Reshaping Universities to Create a Student-centred Higher Education System in South Africa study report; from conceptualisation, the study phases, the...
Environmental sustainability cognisance and action is taking root in South Africa’s higher education system
If the Higher Education Sustainability Community of Practice (HESCoP) is to have its way, South Africa’s universities will, over time, integrate environmental sustainability principles into...
Collaboration across universities finds expression in a new Community of Practice on Sustainability
The official launch and inaugural general meeting of the Higher Education Sustainability Community of Practice (HESCoP) under the auspices of Universities South Africa (USAf) was...
Thuso solutions are potential game changers for emerging academic scholars and researchers
Capacity development of emerging academic scholars and researchers in South Africa’s public universities will take a new turn from Thursday, 18 May 2023, when Universities...
A Transformation Strategy Group study has produced a Framework for a Student-centred Higher Education System in South Africa
The study that Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) Transformation Strategy Group (TSG) embarked upon from 2020, titled Reshaping Universities to Create a Student-Centred Higher Education System...
Universities South Africa’s Student-centredness Framework sparks questions regarding study respondents, operationalisation and measurement
In 2020 the Transformation Strategy Group (TSG) of Universities South Africa (USAf) initiated a research study to create a deeper understanding on how institutional cultures...
Designing inclusive environments for people with disabilities is not optional for organisations
Millions of people are classified as disabled in South Africa. After years of advocacy over developing inclusive cultures in organisations, Dr Karen Smit, Head of...
USAf’s new Director: Operations and Sector Support has always been passionate about the transformation of education
Since assuming the position of Director of Operations and Sector Support at Universities South Africa (USAf) from 1 April, Mr Mahlubi “Chief” Mabizela has stepped...
USAf’s Teaching and Learning of Mathematics Community of Practice must innovate in collaboration with other groups
The first meeting in 2023, of the Community of Practice (CoP) for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (TLM CoP), underscored the urgent need to...
High school learners underprepared for critical foundational university mathematics courses
There is a significant gap between high school and university mathematics for science and engineering students in South Africa with learners entering institutions of higher...
Mathematics teachers’ Work Integrated Learning in the context of 4IR
An initial idea of the Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (TLM CoP) to gather empirical data for the purpose of...
Researchers whose work changes human lives honoured with CEOs’ prestigious Award
Researchers whose work changes human lives honoured with CEOs’ prestigious Award Social sciences and humanities research scholars whose work helps uplift the human condition...
Scholar Activist, UJ’s Professor Ashwin Desai, wins the Established Researcher Award
Scholar Activist, UJ’s Professor Ashwin Desai, wins the Established Researcher Award His academic colleagues regard him as a highly renowned and well-respected scholar-activist and...
An academic, intellectual activist and social justice crusader wins an award for his research
An academic, intellectual activist and social justice crusader wins an award for his research Dr Vishwas Satgar has been a social justice warrior all...
Award-winning research means impactful change for young unemployed men
Award-winning research means impactful change for young unemployed men The critically important work done by Dr Hannah Dawson (left), Social Science Researcher at...
Social Justice Research Awards: Team winners seek epistemic justice in the gender justice agenda
Social Justice Research Awards: Team winners seek epistemic justice in the gender justice agenda Putting women front and centre by promoting attitudinal and social...
Universities South Africa’s Board of Directors officially welcomes three new members
The Chairperson of Universities South Africa (USAf), Professor Sibongile Muthwa, kicked off USAf’s first meeting of the Board of Directors for 2023 on 17 March...
Emboldening women’s leadership in the university: WiL Certification Ceremony
Opening with a live and rousing version of “Celebration” performed by the Two Tone band, The Women in Leadership (WiL) Programme certification ceremony took place...
Professor Sibongile Muthwa of Nelson Mandela University is set to address the Future of Higher Education Dialogue hosted from Tokyo, Japan, today
Professor Sibongile Muthwa, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at Nelson Mandela University and the Chair of Universities SA, will address the fourth seminar of the on-going The...
Although universities offer a welcoming, highly supportive environment, new entrants will need to put in serious work to succeed
As public universities prepare to receive a new cohort of fresh school leavers on their campuses for the 2023 academic year, the Chief Executive Officer...
CoPAL has pressing issues to deal with in 2023
With the 2nd Vice-Chancellors’ Colloquium on language practices now achieved, real work begins for Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning...
The incalculable progress made by CoPAL as the language issue is now firmly centre stage
When Professor Langa Khumalo ends his term as the Chairperson of the Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages (CoPAL) this...
Why universities need to start sharing language resources
Even though universities thrive on competition, they need to stop competing in every single innovation. If, say Rhodes University is doing something about developing isiXhosa,...
The sector-wide language resources audit is designed to aid the implementation of multilingualism
Delegates at the Vice-Chancellors’ Language Colloquium held at the University of Pretoria from 1 to 2 December were treated to preliminary findings of a report...
The complexities surrounding multilingualism in South African universities
Just what are the challenges and complexities facing South African universities when it comes to the implementation of the new Language Policy Framework for Public...
Dedicated infrastructure, resources, and collaboration, must drive multilingualism implementation at universities
Stakeholder engagement, dedicated infrastructure, collaboration between universities and partnerships with other entities are key to furthering the implementation of multilingualism in public universities. ...
“Lift the language and you lift the people” – an esteemed professor borrows from DF Malan
When 80-year-old white-haired Professor Kwesi Kwaah Prah made his way to the podium dressed in the Kente cloth of his birth country, Ghana, a ripple...
The VCs’ Language Colloquium 2022 provided universities an opportunity to collaborate like never before
Language is not just a means of communication but the very fabric of peoples’ cultures and religions. This was emphasised by all speakers at the...
Universities can share language resources, notwithstanding their ongoing pursuit of a competitive edge
It was time to stop talking and start implementing. This was the view of speakers at the second Vice-Chancellors’ (VC) Consultative Colloquium on the revised...
Universities SA appeals to key stakeholders to join hands in ensuring smooth registration of new and returning students in 2023
A meeting held on 28 November 2022 with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Board, senior officials at NSFAS and other key stakeholders, highlighted...
2nd Vice-Chancellors’ Consultative Colloquium on the revised Language Policy Framework begins today
Public universities’ executive leadership and other stakeholders will descend on the University of Pretoria’s (UP’s) Senate Hall in Hatfield this afternoon for a start to...
Embracing HELM’s Women in Leadership programme became a defining moment for alumni
With less than three years in operation and now in its third cohort, the Women in Leadership (WiL), a flagship of the Higher Education Leadership...
African, Asian, and Australian deans’ standpoints on research impact seem to converge
The recent Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) Summit 2022 included a session where three universities’ deans from three different time zones discussed the challenges...
Organisational development in universities; A case study on CUT’s repositioning of its Welkom campus provides invaluable lessons
The Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State is changing the perceived stepchild status of its Welkom campus to an integral part of...
Good, rather than skilled human beings make better university leaders, Professor André Keet says
When good people get into executive leadership positions in universities, it erodes their goodness and their capacity for self-awareness flies out the window. ...
UCT’s Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng advocates for compulsory basic language courses at universities
“To ensure implementation of multilingualism at South African universities, we should not start with learning in an African language. First, we need every university student...
Are universities complying with the revised Language Policy Framework, or are they really committed to multilingualism?
The stage has been set for universities to uplift the status of previously marginalised African languages. South Africa has revised the Language Policy for Public...
Global university leaders exchange leadership attributes, challenges and opportunities
How can universities be a driving force for change in broader society and what role should their leaders play in our ever developing world? These...
Leadership in higher education is often about reaching out and listening to people
Professor Jonathan Jansen says one important lesson he has learnt from his leadership experience at all levels in higher education – is that you have...
UFS students corroborate the value of multilingualism and translanguaging in teaching
In the build up to the 2nd Vice-Chancellors’ Language Colloquium on the revised Language Policy Framework for Higher Education Institutions, students from the University of...
The use of IsiZulu in teaching is helping UKZN students excel academically
Some institutions have begun to witness positive results from incorporating South Africa’s indigenous languages in teaching and learning. One such institution is the University of...
How to develop and nurture academic leaders at our universities
Academic leadership is one of the most important foundations for success in our universities. However, leadership and management in academia presents its own challenges with...
University leaders could benefit from a global perspective
It is imperative that leaders in higher education have a global perspective beyond their national borders and building networks and communities of leaders is one...
Successful students do more than graduate: they are equipped to be responsible citizens
Defining student success is more than just attaining a university degree. It is about preparing young adults for responsible and responsive global citizenship. Professor Jonathan...
SA’s indigenous languages must all be fully developed and featured in digital resources – a UP professor says
South Africa has 11 official languages but we may be moving into a world of monolingualism, especially when it comes to finding information online, says...
The gap universities have to fill regarding student mental health issues
Student mental health issues in South Africa are escalating; but who should be providing the necessary care and treatment – universities or government – and...
The Linguistic Revolution at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is one of the country’s pioneers in developing a language policy, a process that started in 2004 and culminated in...
Challenges facing the world’s universities
The underfunding of higher education and the resulting lack of capacity; universities becoming more reluctant to collaborate due to geopolitical shifts and the imbalance between...
Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions Determined in Terms of Section 27(2) of the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997 as Amended
This is the policy instrument that the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation gazetted in October 2020, to provide a framework for the development...
HELM Summit 2022 explores innovative leadership development for Higher Education in complexity and global change
Shifting global parameters and heightened uncertainties highlight our universally shared vulnerability and point to how interconnected we are as a society: economically, socially, politically, and...
The role of PanSALB in upholding multilingualism in SA’s society
In order to effectively elevate the status of South Africa’s indigenous languages, they have to be transformed into, and used as, languages of learning —...
From theory to implementation – the tools needed to make the Language Policy Framework workable
Promoting South Africa’s indigenous languages at universities as required by the Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions is not only about teaching and...
We cannot afford not to embrace and implement multilingualism says Professor Madadzhe
Studying African languages in institutions of higher education does not mean abandoning English. It simply recognises languages as an integral part of humanity, as communication...
HELM Summit 2022 to Focus on Leadership Development and Organisational Sustainability
The 2022 HELM (Higher Education Leadership and Management) Summit, which commences today, will be dedicated to Leadership Development in the context of disruption, complexity, change...
SA universities are reimagining postgraduate supervision in diverse ways
The student-supervisor relationship at universities is changing. It is no longer bound to the model where the post-graduate is the apprentice of the supervisor. Now...
Postgraduate supervisory models practised at CPUT and UCT
Speaking at the recent meeting of Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) Community of Practice (CoP) for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (PGES), Professor Dina Burger, Director: Research...
The strides that the University of Mpumalanga is making towards multilingualism
The University of Mpumalanga (UMP) recently introduced a Master’s degree in siSwati language and literature, following the offering of a Bachelor of Arts Honours in...
Implementing multilingualism can cost millions but the benefits outweigh the challenges—Stellenbosch University
Professor Deresh Ramjugernath of Stellenbosch University (SU) just provided a taste of what can be expected at the forthcoming 2nd Vice Chancellors’ Language Colloquium. Primarily...
Academics offer solutions for the challenges encountered during Mathematics Teaching Practice
South Africa’s public universities face shared challenges regarding Teaching Practice (TP) and giving students the best possible experience. These include lack of communication, supervision and...
Mathematics Teacher Practice during the 4th Industrial Revolution
Teaching Practice (TP) is a vital component of teacher education and training because it provides student teachers with an opportunity to gain experience in the...
The importance of ICTs in Teacher Education
It is vital that teachers – including students pursuing teaching careers – are digitally literate and understand the enormous benefits of using ICTs (information and...
New office bearers elected to lead USAf’s Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages
Professor Nobuhle Hlongwa (left), Dean of the School of Arts in the College of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, is the new Chairperson...
How universities are transforming their language policies and why this is critical
Language has the power to change higher education in this country and lead to better social cohesion. This is the message from Professor Langa Khumalo,...
Universities South Africa’s fundraising project to help pay for students’ historical debts and other needs surpassed the R1 billion mark!
In the face of mounting student debt at universities across the country, in August 2020, Universities South Africa (USAf) pledged to raise R1 billion in...
Coaching is essential in higher education leadership
Coaching is an integral component of the Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) leadership development approach. The final ENGAGE session for the year – facilitated...
Understanding just what coaching is and the different forms it takes
There are many misconceptions about what coaching is and the various forms it can take. The field of coaching is diverse and covers many different...
How coaching helps people to ‘do human better’
“Doing Human Better” is what Dr Paddy Pampallis believes coaching can achieve as well as supporting massive social change. Her mission is to help people...
Universities South Africa chooses to allow due processes to proceed to conclusion at UCT
Although Universities South Africa (USAf) subscribes to principles of sound governance, transparency, and integrity in the administration of its member institutions, the representative body of...
The tripartite partnership between USAf, the CJC and EWSETA is only a beginning — principals declare
A tripartite partnership was launched on Monday, 10 October, between Universities South Africa’s Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) Programme, the Central Johannesburg TVET College...
Higher Education Conference 2021 Report
The 2nd Higher Education Conference of 2021 enabled genuine contemplation of the transformation required of universities, for them to realise The Engaged University ideal. Read more> ...
Emerging researchers in South Africa are about to get a big boost
Two new online platforms in higher education look set to change the face of early career researchers in South Africa. Inspired by the Sesotho word...
Universities express their support for new digital frameworks for emerging scholars
Dr Robin Drennan, Director of Research Development at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), expressed his appreciation for the work being done, after Dr Leandra...
USAf’s new CEO aims to uphold the organisation’s reputation and respect as she takes it forward
The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa (USAf) says she is delighted to be a part of what she calls a “well-respected,...
Universities South Africa welcomes Dr Phethiwe Matutu as the new Chief Executive Officer
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf), Professor Sibongile Muthwa, USAf’s Chairperson, has welcomed Dr Phethiwe Matutu as the new...
Universities South Africa’s long-serving Chief Executive Officer hangs up his hat today
After serving Universities South Africa (USAf) for close to seven years in the Chief Executive Officer capacity, Professor Ahmed Cassim Bawa hangs up his hat...
Universities South Africa welcomes Dr Phethiwe Matutu as the new Chief Executive Officer
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf), Professor Sibongile Muthwa, USAf’s Chairperson, has welcomed Dr Phethiwe Matutu as the new...
The USAf Board hails Professor Ahmed Bawa as a solid leader, great achiever, conciliator and steady sound board
The Special Board meeting of 9 September proved to be a solemn moment as the Board of Directors came to terms with the final departure...
A giant leader leaves a trail of achievements in his path at Universities South Africa
Change is an important and necessary constant; it allows organisations to re-imagine themselves from time to time in the context of shifting environments, and Universities...
First-year mathematics students need intensive support to improve their experience, an on-going study has shown
Intensive support, small groups and repeated exposure to information are some of the interventions needed to improve first-year mathematics students’ experience. These, and other findings...
Imagining the Mathematical Science Landscape of 2040
What will the mathematical science landscape look like in 2040? Who will teach, what will be taught and how it will be taught? ...
Questions posed at the USAf-DHET webinars showed stakeholders had engaged deeply with the new draft policy for HE education institutional types
The Department of Higher Education and Training’s new Draft Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types might well be republished for another...
DHET-USAf webinars provided fresh insights into the new draft policy on types of higher education institutions
Around 900 people attended the three online public webinars presented last week to clarify the new Draft Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types....
Public webinars get underway this week to clarify the new draft policy for higher education institutions
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in collaboration with Universities South Africa (USAf) will host a series of webinars this week, to explain the...
The Draft Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types is not as disruptive as some perceive it to be
The state believes that its new higher education draft policy, which will lead to all South African institutions of higher learning being classified into three...
Academic advising is a critical determinant of student success
Academic advising plays a critical role in improving the success rate of students, and in advancing social justice. This was the message from...
The valuable lessons learnt during South Africa’s Academic Advising journey
Students want to be empowered to drive their success towards achieving their own academic and career goals. This is where academic advising is critical. ...
SAJU 5 cements prospects for long-term research collaboration between South African and Japanese Universities
The recently completed fifth conference of the South Africa-Japanese Universities (SAJU) Forum hosted 41 papers or posters concerning completed or ongoing research in the three...
The SAJU Forum commits to mobilise Japan’s and Africa’s academia to address Africa’s sustainable development challenges
The fifth South Africa–Japan University (SAJU) Forum conference that concluded on 29 July, 2022, re-committed itself to pursuing strong and sustainable research, innovation and education...
South Africa-France Research Week opens possibilities for stronger research collaboration between the two nations
The recently concluded France-South Africa Higher Education and Research Week yielded promising outcomes, given the high level of interest from both participating countries, the packed...
Universities need a solid policy framework for equitable implementation of entrepreneurship across the SA ecosystem
One of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme’s mandates is to develop a national policy framework for entrepreneurship at South Africa’s universities. “But,...
Standard Bank’s universities’ partnership helps build a new generation of entrepreneurs
Standard Bank’s investment in the Universities South Africa (USAf) Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme has led to the establishment of Economic Activation Offices...
South Africa is minerally positioned to lead the world in green hydrogen energy generation
South Africa is home to 80% of the world’s reserves of platinum group metals (PGMs) that play a critical role in green hydrogen power generation....
South Africa-Japanese Universities Forum 5 conference echoes mutual trust in collaboration for the common good
The opening session of the virtual South Africa-Japanese Universities (SAJU) Forum 5 Conference, yesterday, featured keynote lectures on the two countries’ perspectives towards open academic cooperation with trust. ...
New-style social entrepreneurship requires new thinking — EDHE Lekgotla 2022 delegates are told in Gqeberha
Developing entrepreneurs and encouraging entrepreneurial thinking has to be the cornerstone of reforming a society characterised by socio-economic imbalances. This was stressed by two senior...
CoViD-19 has induced shifts in higher education that necessitate new thinking for the future
At the recent Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) ENGAGE #8 event, blended learning, critical thinking and leadership attributes received dedicated focus. This event was the eighth webinar in...
Whose responsibility is it to inform students they don’t meet the doctoral standard?
Professor Andrew Leitch’s presentation on the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE’s) Doctoral Degrees National Report generated considerable discussion when he presented some of its key...
Putting the focus on the quality of South Africa’s doctoral qualifications
Are South African doctoral programmes educating the thinkers we need as a country? Professor Andrew Leitch (right), Emeritus Professor and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research,...
USAf’s new Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education and Scholarship has been hard at work
With just over three months in existence since its inaugural meeting on 31 March, Universities South Africa’s newly founded Community of Practice for Postgraduate Education...
Blended teaching and learning post-CoVID requires different strategic, space and technological planning, academic experts advise
Embracing the “new normal” of blended teaching and learning in higher education will need an integrated approach to strategic planning. This will have to include capacity planning, space planning norms and...
Public universities face tough financial decisions in normalising blended teaching post-CoVID
South Africa’s cash-strapped higher education system adapting to a post-pandemic blended teaching and learning model needs to rethink funding modalities. When factoring in costs for...
Student and staff surveys chart a way for implementing blended teaching and learning at public universities
A blended teaching and learning environment cannot succeed if students and staff do not all have access to reliable devices, network, internet connectivity and adequate...
Audience reactions to the survey findings; comments, questions and answers
Following a presentation on findings of two studies, Students’ Access to and Use of Learning Materials (SAULM) and Staff Experiences of, and Perspectives on Teaching and Learning and...
DHET concerns regarding students still in the pipeline for phased-out ITE programmes
At the second meeting of Universities South Africa’s Education Deans’ Forum (EDF, recently, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) was invited to address...
The state of language policies at public institutions
As universities enter the second half of 2022, they are ramping up efforts to accelerate progress toward implementing the Language Policy Framework for Public Higher...
Challenges confronting the teaching of African languages at South Africa’s universities require dedicated attention
The possibility of a shortage of supply of African languages teachers across South Africa’s education landscape by 2030 became a subject of fierce debate among members...
The symposium programme on student and staff experiences during the CoVID-19 pandemic is packed
Today’s higher education symposium set to unpack policy implications of student and staff experiences during the Co-VID-19 pandemic for Funding, funding, and quality assurance, is...
The EDHE Studentpreneurs Indaba 2022 seeks to cultivate leadership competencies in students
The upcoming EDHE Studentpreneurs Indaba 2022 will focus on building leadership capacity in students with existing start-ups or small businesses. The event, taking place on...
Student and staff experiences during the CoVID-19 pandemic: Implications for planning, funding and quality assurance
Findings of two studies undertaken in higher education on Students’ Access to and Use of Learning Materials (SAULM) in 2020 and Staff Experiences of, and Perspectives on Teaching and...
The Transformation Strategy Group’s study seeking to inform student-centred institutions is at data analysis stage
Universities South Africa’s Transformation Strategy Group (TSG) initiated a research study in 2020 to determine how institutional cultures could be reshaped to create a student-centred higher...
The EDHE Lekgotla 2022 Registrations are now open!
Registrations for the upcoming 6th annual EDHE Lekgotla – the annual gathering of leaders in entrepreneurship in Higher Education, from 19 to 22 July 2022, are open!TheEntrepreneurship...
Universities must think more creatively about the employability of their graduates
The Dean of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Professor Nithaya Chetty (right), says although it is laudable that the South African higher education produces...
The University of the Witwatersrand injects entrepreneurial thinking into doctoral training
The University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) is introducing a training programme in which doctoral students will, while pursuing their core programme, also undergo rigorous...
The Research and Innovation Strategy Group endorses an action plan drawn from the Higher Education Conference of 2021
Universities South Africa’s Research and Innovation Strategy Group has endorsed a list of actions and initiatives to focus on in 2022 and beyond, stemming from the...
Co-branding on social media to promote a social enterprise
At the recent Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) webinar, Ms Cwenga Koyana, a Postgraduate student in Film and Television at the University of Cape Town,...
Your personal story matters on social media
Ms Nqobile Tembe (left), a qualified communication management specialist and currently a Communication Consultant at Universities South Africa, addressed the SWEEP members on using...
Utilising social media to market oneself or one’s business
It was the last session in a series of Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) webinars that the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme has...
Coaching will be integral to empowerment in WIL 3
The opportunity of one-on-one interaction and coaching by a professional coach will be a significant component in the Women in Leadership 3 (WiL 3) programme in...
Women in Leadership programme — 2022 edition kicks off
The start of the 2022 Women in Leadership (WiL) programme, designed to embolden senior academic women leaders, inspired a new cohort of participants with confidence that...
EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2022 advances to internal rounds
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2022 is gearing up for the second phase of the contest — internal rounds where student entrepreneurs...
Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages remains determined to achieve more in 2022
Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of African Languages (CoPAL) has put together an elaborate plan of action aiming to realise...
Conference Announcement – The 5th South African-Japan University (SAJU) Forum (28-29 July 2022)
Background The South Africa-Japan University (SAJU) Forum is a platform with the aim of providing a structured framework for collaboration between the higher education institutions of...
Projects that explore experience of first year mathematics students unpacked
Early findings of two research projects being undertaken to improve the teaching and learning experience of first year students in mathematics, have exposed problem areas...
Measures that can be taken to improve first year students’ mathematics experience
First year mathematics students are often in much need of guidance and support. That is why student experience was the focus of the Diagnostic Mathematics Information...
A collaborative project aimed at improving first year mathematics students’ experience
The facilitation of engaged participation and not just the acquisition of knowledge is the aim of the Community of Practice on the Teaching and Learning...
A project that will benefit academics, institutions and students unpacked at Mathematics CoP
A moment of thoughts and prayers was dedicated to KwaZulu Natal communities and colleagues at the first meeting for the year, of the Community of...
Social science research kept South Africans informed during the pandemic
The research of engaged scholars in the social sciences and humanities kept government, and South Africans, abreast of the trajectory of the pandemic. ...
Can 4IR and Decolonisation ideologies co-exist and be of mutual benefit in higher education?
The emergence of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) could potentially submerge the bellowing of decolonisation in higher education by previously marginalised groups, especially considering the...
Reigniting the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa
While the CoVID-19 pandemic prevented students from going overseas to study because of travel bans, it did create opportunities for South African universities to think creatively around internationalisation in education. In fact,...
An advocacy for global learning for all and internationalisation in an African context
Internationalisation in higher education is entering a new and critical phase in which it has to become more inclusive and sustainable. There is a shift...
Higher Education in the melting pot: Emerging discourses of the 4IR and Decolonisation
Out of the deliberations of a September 2019 colloquium of the Education Deans Forum, where the deans explored the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and its...
Reconfiguring the knowledge project by adopting a human-centric approach
The changing world we live in – where movements like Me Too and Black Lives Matter, alongside campaigns like Fees Must Fall – call for a radical reshaping of the...
Engaged scholarship should be driven by service and purpose, a visiting scholar declares
Authenticity, intellectual and moral integrity, radical empathy and compassion are the qualities it takes to be an “engaged scholar”. As Africa and the world exit...
The HSRC and USAf honour researchers seeking to change people’s lives for the better
Scholars who make a significant difference in the everyday lives of human beings were recognised – and rewarded – for their distinguished and often ground-breaking...
HEDSA appeals to vice-chancellors to prioritise the disability policy framework to enable its implementation
Disability units appear to be the only structures within universities that take the Strategic Policy Framework on Disability for the Post-School Education and Training System seriously. Ms...
Towards improving the mental health of students at South African universities
Findings of one of the largest student mental health surveys ever undertaken in the world – which was initiated by Universities South Africa (USAf) and...
A focus on the mental health of staff at SA universities
Not enough attention has been paid to staff at South Africa’s universities when it comes to their mental health. However, in examining this phenomenon and finding possible...
The HSRC-USAf Research Medals D-Day is 24 hours away
Up to 60 guests are expected to grace the 2021/2022 HSRC-USAf Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities ceremony on Tuesday, 12 April 2022, at the Protea Hotel...
Eminent scholars laud USAf’s newest CoP as an excellent platform for strengthening SA’s postgraduate scholarship
The newly formed Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) held its inaugural meeting online on 31 March. It...
Postgraduate education and scholarship is not an easy ride
Discussions that ensued at the inaugural meeting of Universities South Africa’s Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) on 31 March, between...
A snapshot of NRF-funded opportunities for postgraduate study
At the inaugural online meeting of Universities South Africa’s new Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship (CoP PGES) on 31 March, Dr Romilla...
Four days to go to the HSRC-USAf Research Awards ceremony
With four days left before the 2021/22 HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities Research ceremony, we feature the last group of nominees who combine...
What kind of society have we become – says the USAf CEO, in condemning arson at UFS
If students can watch their peers burn down teaching and learning facilities at their university and, instead of reporting this unruly behaviour, choose to take...
Five days to go to the HSRC-USAf Research Medals ceremony
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf), will be hosting the 2021/2022 HSRC-USAf Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities...
Six days to go to the HSRC-USAf Research Medals ceremony
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf), will on 12 April 2022 honour scholars and research teams whose studies...
The countdown to the HSRC-USAf Research Medals event begins today
In the quest to promote quality scholarship that is engaged with social issues, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), in partnership with Universities South Africa...
Maintaining independence and dignity under pressure; Linda Meyer counsels aspiring women entrepreneurs
I am proud to be difficult, different, to have a voice that is mine and know who I am. It comes with years of experience,...
USAf’s new Community of Practice on Postgraduate Education and Scholarship takes off today
A meeting set for today — Thursday, 31 March, will see a new community of practice beginning to shine a spotlight on South Africa’s public...
How EDHE is enabling the entrepreneurship ecosystem within South Africa’s universities
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme – which was established in 2016 “with humble beginnings” – is broadening its scope from creating business in its...
A Namibian-born scholar is taking Coventry University, in the UK, to new entrepreneurial heights
Professor Gideon Maas has implemented a module titled Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship at Coventry University in the United Kingdom, which has no predetermined content. “There...
EDHE’s bumper programme for 2022 includes a new video campaign
At the recent Executive Leadership Workshop of Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme, EDHE’s Project Manager, Ms Zana Boshoff, outlined their busy programme for...
There is no clearcut answer about which skills are needed to commercialise research
Professor Keolebogile Shirley Motaung did not have to rattle off a list to illustrate The skill set required for commercialisation, which was the title of the...
A British Council-supported programme aims to enhance SA’s innovation success
The British Council’s flagship sub-Saharan Africa higher education programme, Innovation for African Universities (IAU), is ready to move to the all-important implementation phase. During...
Nobody sets out to do irrelevant research, argues one of SA’s heavyweights in commercialising academic research
Professor Bavesh Kana (left), Head of the Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), spoke up in...
Profit-sharing from IP commercialisation ignites a debate among university leaders
Three things hampering effective commercialisation of intellectual property at South Africa’s universities were mentioned as animosity between universities, misconceptions around royalties and the lack of...
Diversifying capital is essential for effecting change in South Africa
To promote a diversity of views, you need diversity in capital. That means that you need to give money to people who have never had...
Universities can build relationships with industry by inviting people to networking events
The first session of the two-day Executive Leadership Workshop (ELW) on Commercialisation of Research, held in Cape Town last week – featured two speakers from...
From pills to snazzy suitcases – a university in Belgium earns hundreds of millions from academic research
KU Leuven in Belgium is such a pinnacle of entrepreneurial success that it topped the Reuters list of Europe’s most innovative universities for four years...
DBE seeks to strengthen collaboration with universities to achieve a more effective basic education system
During their first sitting for the year in February 2022, education deans from public universities heard pleas of senior officials from the Department of Basic...
From a South African laboratory to global gamechange; the Gene Xpert test
The development in a South Africa laboratory of accurate controls to help in the battle against tuberculosis and the corona virus is a global success story. It...
Commercialising university research often starts with existing relationships
The AstraZeneca vaccine for CoVID-19 is a prime example to illustrate the process it takes, and the value that lies in commercialising university research. This...
What it means to be an entrepreneurial institution
Nearly R800 million rand – which has benefited more than 22 000 students and helped 6 000 postgraduate students pay their tuition fees – was...
Intellectual Property creators at universities get to share in the benefits
Sixty per cent of South African universities reported that they were not empowered to commercialise their Intellectual Property (IP) through spinoffs, start-ups or incubators. This...
Commercialisation in the nano-biotechnology field
Dr. Anita Goel has an impressive pedigree when it comes to merging science and research with being a global entrepreneur. She’s an award-winning world-renowned expert...
Taking a research lab discovery into the marketplace; the Entiro story
Stick to one field and focus if you want to be successful. This was the message from Professor Leon Dicks, Distinguished Professor in Microbiology at Stellenbosch...
Commercialising research requires universities to think differently
“It will not be long before institutions are chosen by students because of the innovative and entrepreneurial environments and cultures that they create,” Dr Norah...
Save the date: The 2021/22 HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf), will be hosting the 2021/2022 HSRC-USAf Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities on 12...
Capacitating Student Affairs practitioners to accelerate student success
A National Training Needs Assessment (TNA) survey commenced in November 2021 to investigate the need in public universities to support the capacitation of professionals working...
Being mindful of the words we speak over ourselves to cultivate resilience and sustainability
When members of the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) gathered online on 23 February 2022 to unpack the topic of resilience...
Registration for the popular Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2022 opens
A call to entry for the most prestigious Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2022 kicked off with a resounding roar last Thursday, 24 February....
2021 Entrepreneurship Intervarsity winners give new entrants tips for success
Advice, encouragement and warnings on potential pitfalls were shared by last year’s winners at the launch of the fourth Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Entrepreneurship...
Corporate partners supporting the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity share their hopes for 2022
You are important to the economy. We are rooting for you. We are here to help. That was the predominant sentiment of partners of the...
A British Council-supported training intervention leaves a Programme Manager feeling fulfilled
Completion of the two-day Innovation Ecosystems and Academic Entrepreneurship workshop of 16 to 17 February gave a sense of fulfilment to Ms Meekness Lunga-Ayidu, Programme...
Bringing knowledge exchange solutions to the market
Universities and higher learning institutions need the correct strategies, policies and networks in place in order to promote a successful culture of knowledge exchange. ...
Sleep Science takes UCT research outcomes into the marketplace
The vision of Sleep Science – a spin-off company from the University of Cape Town (UCT) – is to optimise the health, well-being and performance of South Africans through evidence-based, best-practice sleep research,...
Academics discuss entrepreneurship challenges they encounter, and explore possible solutions
At last week’s Innovation Systems and Academic Entrepreneurship workshop that was hosted by Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme, academics exchanged thought-provoking perspectives...
USAf’s Partnership with the SETAs produced close to R800 million to support 22 104 students
In 2020, Universities South Africa (USAf) pledged to raise R1 billion in 24 months to assist students in need of support; are enrolled in undergraduate...
Moving to an impact paradigm
The main benefits of knowledge exchange and commercialisation activities are the societal impact they make from research, and not about the revenue they may generate....
Connecting communities and changing lives; the story of Zenzeleni Community Networks
South Africa’s first cooperative-owned Internet Service Provider (ISP) began operating in the Eastern Cape in 2012. Zenzeleni Community Networks started when a group of University of the Western...
Creating companies is not all there is to innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship
There is far more to having a functional innovation ecosystem than just supporting the creation of business ventures, Ms Jaci Barnett, an expert from the Oxentia...
Challenges and risks in innovation
The reality is that there will be conflicts of interest when academics engage in entrepreneurship and commercialisation. What is important is to put policies and...
Harnessing and commercialising the power of social sciences, humanities and the arts
While the commercialisation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) studies is well-established, research within the non-STEM disciplines such as social sciences, humanities and the arts is...
Listening, continuous learning and openness to new ideas are paying dividends for the Maths Whartels inventor
At the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme Kick-off 2022 event of last week, Dr Janine Chantson (left), Chief Director: Technology Transfer Office...
How language scholars and activists are keeping multilingualism on universities’ transformation agenda
South African universities are required to start implementing the government’s Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutionsfrom this year – a measure that aims...
SA universities claim to be multilingual yet have monolingual websites; a recent language symposium heard
With South Africa’s new Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions set to enhance the role and status of marginalised languages scheduled to kickstart...
It is about time, says Professor Ahmed Bawa
The two-day Innovation Systems and Academic Entrepreneurship workshop that ended yesterday carried high value for South Africa’s universities — given the huge chasm between research, innovation and...
What is academic entrepreneurship and why do we do it?
He fired the first shot in the Innovation Systems and Academic Entrepreneurship workshop that kicked off on Wednesday for academics and staff involved in entrepreneurship...
EDHE enlists the Oxford University Innovation expertise at its Innovation Ecosystems workshop
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme’s Kick-off event for 2022, starting today, takes the form of a workshop on Innovation Systems and Academic...
Women entrepreneurs are contributing significantly to the global economy, but SWEEP needs to do more to stimulate local activity
Recent data shows that there has been a slow shift in the entrepreneurial landscape and that more women are prepared to put in the hours...
Introducing SWEEP chapters at public universities
The recent three-day Economic Activation workshop of the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) climaxed when EDHE leaders introduced SWEEP University Chapters intended for all...
How to build a positive self-image for success in business
While personality is imperative in human relations, appearance tends to be the primary impression maker on any person, or brand. Therefore, Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship...
Dealing with trauma and hardship requires personal resilience skills
Resilience is about thriving and growing despite the hardship or challenge that has engulfed us. That was the message of Dr Norah Clarke, Director: Entrepreneurship...
Birds and Lemons: Use what you have; convert your disadvantages to advantage
Notwithstanding that people often perceive impediments as dream killers, during last week’s SWEEP Economic Activation Workshop, Professor Simon Gifford, Co-Founder and CEO of Mashauri, advised...
Asset-Based Community Development — If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together
Entrepreneurship in its current form is predominantly inward-looking and needs-based. Yet, the most significant opportunities lie in problem-based solutions. These include social problems found within...
Continuous learning, courage and perseverance led a fine artist to start and grow a thriving business
How often do you hear of parents doubting the viability of their child’s career choice? That is what Ms Lindy Scott had to contend with,...
Universities SA commends Government for assuring all qualifying and accepted NSFAS recipients of funding in 2022
Universities South Africa (USAf) has commended the Government for resolving a funding shortfall of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for the 2022 academic...
Women need to upskill to join the digital transformation revolution
She grew up in Limpopo, in a township called Namakgale, but her parents never let her forget that “home” was the village. It is why Dr...
Nudging entrepreneurial women towards creating viable enterprises
When Ms Leonie Greyling asked women attending an entrepreneurship workshop what came to mind when they heard “innovation”, a few sprang to respond, and their...
Transforming one’s thoughts is the key to problem solving
Declaring herself an advocate for an entrepreneurial mindset, Ms Gail Mothlaudi – Lecturer and Coordinator: Centre of Entrepreneurship, Sol Plaatje University – urged her audience...
How-To Tips for Aspiring Student Women Entrepreneurs
Making a success of one’s business enterprise was the focus of Day Two of the inaugural Economic Activation Workshop of The Student...
How patriarchy and apartheid practices shaped a white woman into a feisty entrepreneur
She was raised on a farm in rural KwaZulu-Natal by strong, brave, and tenacious women who gathered firewood. Watching her own mother being downtrodden by...
Courage, Confidence, Resilience and Professionalism: Essential skills for budding businesswomen
Two speakers at the inaugural Economic Activation Workshop of The Student Women Economic Empowerment Project (SWEEP), identified resilience and courage as the key qualities necessary...
Session One of the SWEEP Economic Activation Workshop focuses on mentorship and goal-setting
The Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) – the brainchild of Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE), kicked off its inaugural Economic Activation Workshop with...
Simon Gifford to grace EDHE’s Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme Economic Activation Workshop as speaker
A much-admired and respected entrepreneur, Mr Simon Gifford, will be sharing entrepreneurship insights with members of the Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (SWEEP) during the...
Extension of the date for submission of nominations for the 2021/22 Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
The closing date for the electronic submission of nomination forms in respect of the HSRC-USAf Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities has been extended from 20...
South Africa has lost a human rights and social justice giant
As South Africa contemplates a future without Archbishop Desmond Tutu, it must be with an understanding that she has lost another giant, a lodestone, an...
Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities Recognising Engaged Scholarship Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) & Universities South Africa (USAf)
Pretoria, Monday 13 December 2021 – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf), invite nominees for the HSRC – USAf Medal...
EDHE recognises the contributions, and outcomes, of the entrepreneurship communities of practice
At the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021 last Friday, Dr Norah Clarke, Director: Entrepreneurship at Universities South Africa (USAf), affirmed the leadership of the five communities...
A hard-hatted construction boss designs PPE for women
Ms Kholeka Mtshali, a 23-year-old University of Free State Bachelor of Divinity student, puts on a hard hat and runs a business called Opulence Construction...
A medicine delivery app promises help for struggling NGOs
Overburdened healthcare workers at non-governmental organisations across Cape Town spurred a 4th year Bachelor of Pharmacy student at the University of the Western Cape, into...
A Nelson Mandela University student cycles to success
I believe in pedal power! Those were the words a Nelson Mandela University student, Mr Charles Mbhele, began with, as he showcased his bicycle company...
A studentpreneur wants her business to eradicate hunger
Ms Ntombizonke Mdletshe, a student at the University of Zululand, has an idea that she hopes will help relieve the devastating effects of poverty-related hunger....
Women sweep the board at the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021
The EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021 event, organised by Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme, was a women-dominated event. In an unprecedented...
A very personal entrepreneurship journey inspires studentpreneurs
If it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to create an entrepreneurial eco-system for studentpreneurs to succeed. So said...
All universities must strive to reach the pinnacle of the annual EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity
A total of 18 of South Africa’s 26 public universities were represented at the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021 finals last week – and the address...
A winning formula at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
Professor Eunice Seekoe is a Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC): Teaching, Learning and Community Engagement at the Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences (SMU). Chosen from...
Crowdsource funding business wins UCT medical student entrepreneur R120 000
GoShare, the winning business in the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021, will not just be financially viable: it will change lives. That is what fifth-year University...
Making a difference: meet the owners of businesses that have huge social impact
The winners in the social impact category of the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2021– which showcased successful student enterprises from 18 of South Africa’s universities –...
Drones as a security back-up idea wins Entrepreneurship Intervarsity award
Sickened by the increasing number of farm attacks and wanting to give farmers an early warning system sparked an award-winning business idea in drone technology....
Allergy Foundation approved skin care products win studentpreneur R20 000
When Ms Mashoto Mphahlele (left), final year media studies student at the University of Limpopo, walked onto stage to present her thriving cosmetics business,...
Winning online language academy promotes the learning of African Languages
Turning the teaching and learning of a language into a business has won studentpreneur, Ms Chido Dzinotyiwei, R20 000. As important is the desire of...
Public universities deploy their 28 enterprising best in the 2021 Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals
When Friday, 19 November comes to an end, budding student entrepreneurs in South Africa’s public university system will know who the best in entrepreneurial practice...
Four universities make it to the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals for the first time
Four of Universities South Africa’s 26 member institutions will be participating in the 2021 EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals for the first time since the competition...
The SEP-TLF study shines a spotlight on academic staff experiences during the pandemic
The long-awaited study that was exploring Staff Experiences of, and Perspectives on Teaching and Learning and its Future (SEP-TLF) has been concluded. This study, a...
Universities now need concrete action plans to achieve the engaged and responsive institutions that they have concurred to become
Deliberations and debates that took place at Universities South Africa’s recent 2nd Higher Education Conference have left universities in no doubt over what it is...
Financial sustainability is a prerequisite to universities’ continued existence
“We have to be financially sustainable to guarantee our very existence. If we do not exist, we will not be able to pursue our intellectual...
The quest for collaborative, ethical and impactful research
As she reported on the three breakaway sessions of the Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG), Professor Thoko Mayekiso, Chairperson of RISG and Vice-Chancellor and...
Report-back on the TLSG’s engaged scholarship sessions included two book recommendations
Every person in higher education should read two books, both central to the deliberations at Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) recent conference on The Engaged University....
The SEP-TLF Study Report Shines a Spotlight on Academic Staff Experiences during the Pandemic
The long-awaited study that was exploring Staff Experiences of, and Perspectives on Teaching and Learning and its Future (SEP-TLF) has been concluded. This study,...
Creating Engaged, Student-centred and Responsive Universities
Professor Puleng Lenka Bula, Chairperson of the Transformation Strategy Group (TSG) and Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of South Africa, reported that she had...
Better together: Research collaborations in Africa
Although coming off a low base, there are signs that African research is slowing starting to grow across the continent. As Professor Aryeetey pointed out,...
Free Mandarin and Chinese Culture training open for students majoring in tourism and hospitality studies
The University of Johannesburg’s Confucius Institute (UJCI) will host a four-week Tourism Mandarin and Chinese Culture training course at no cost for South Africa’s tourism...
Ensuring research integrity in uncertain times
During the recent 2nd Higher Education Conference, three speakers talking to different aspects of ethical research allowed for a comprehensive perspective on engagement and research...
Science as a public good
Professor Stephanie Burton, a biochemist by profession and Professor at the University of Pretoria’s Future Africa campus, was keen to highlight the role that universities...
Research constraints, acceleration and commercialisation; the pursuit for impact
Covering from funding constraints at the National Research Foundation through the marvellous alacrity of research interventions brought about by CoViD-19 to the importance of establishing...
Universities led CoViD-19 related research and response; higher investment in basic and clinical research could yield more for society
Coming at the topic from a researcher’s perspective, Professor Lynn Morris (left) is a virologist by training and explores the fascinating interplay between research...
Demand-led applied research is likely to lead to commercialised innovation in South Africa
Addressing Research Impact from an innovation perspective, Dr McLean Sibanda (left), Managing Director of Bigen Global Limited started with the fundamentally weak status of...
Book launch: The Responsive University and the Crisis in South Africa; Engagement is, in fact, a methodology for teaching and research
The renowned scholar whose two fundamental questions to universities, ‘what are we good at‘ and ‘what are we good for‘, ignited reflective conversations among delegates...
Universities are as transformed as they positively change the environments in which they are located
Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lincoln in England, and one of the contributing authors to the book The Responsive University and the Crisis in...
Universities should not wait for another crisis to push towards building a future that society needs
Dr Bernadette Johnson, Director: Transformation and Employment Equity at the University of the Witwatersrand, who also commented on Professor Chris Brink’s edited book, The Responsive...
It is the responsibility of universities to create environments conducive to students’ development and success
The Fallist movements of 2015/16 undoubtedly highlighted lived realities of students. They also reflected significant levels of alienation that they were experiencing in the learning...
Lives should also change education, Mamokgethi Phakeng submits
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Cape Town, was the second panellist in the session titled Student-Centred Universities at the recent...
Student-centrism is about reorienting the university and emancipating it from itself and its dogmas – Luthando Jack
The Student-centred Universities session of the 2nd Higher Education Conference culminated in a discussion during which Mr Luthando Jack, Dean of Students at Nelson Mandela...
Universities must look themselves in the transformation mirror and commit to fixing the problem — Andre Keet
For many years, the higher education sector has been grappling with engagement and transformation. More so as institutions realised that academic pursuit, as a sole...
Co-construction of knowledge is central to an engaged university
The second speaker, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, who is the Chair of Universities South Africa’s Transformation Strategy Group and Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of...
Stellenbosch University’s transformation through visual redress
Dr Leslie Van Rooi, Senior Director: Social Impact and Transformation at Stellenbosch University, was the third panellist to tackle the sub-theme of The Engaged University...
Scholarship of Engagement practices are so divergent across universities that this necessitates a dedicated focus – Vivienne Lawack
Universities should not view community engagement as separate from teaching and learning and research but see all these as very closely interrelated. So said Dr...
The University of the Western Cape transformed its overly engaged soup kitchen approach to community engagement
Professor Vivienne Lawack became an unexpected presenter at Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) recent conference on The Engaged University. Lawack (left), Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic...
Decolonisation, engagement and a third university option
On the screen is a photograph of a colonial-style building at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape. It is now named Krotoa after the 17th...
Curriculum contestation: transformation and decolonisation
The review and decolonisation of the curriculum is taking place across the higher education sector. This session examined a range of exemplars from our universities...
Professional bodies are co-determining with universities, the attributes graduates need to serve society
“Higher education is being called upon to be responsive. But the question is: ‘responsive to what? To the needs of the economy, of employers, of...
SAICA is partnering with USAf to ensure its trainees are equipped for the 21st century
Ms Chantyl Mulder, Executive Director for Nation Building at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), has never forgotten something Chief Justice Raymond Zondo,...
Students articulating their own learning experiences shed bigger value than relying on lecturers’ perspectives on same
Academics should not take students’ views seriously only at the end of a course when they evaluate modules and teaching. They should also not take...
Engaged universities can produce graduates who stand for peace, social harmony and development while also challenging global orthodoxy
Three distinct takes were offered on Universities and Democracy at the recent higher education conference. The first, from Professor Catherine Odora Hoppers, offered a fresh...
Hands-on sustainable community engagement
Succinctly encapsulating the overall content and tone of the session, Professor Field referred to My Octopus Teacher to indicate the level of hands-on commitment that...
The need for ‘planetary intellectuals’ in the modern university
During the ongoing decolonial debates in South Africa, intellectuals have taken the lead in the dismantling of Eurocentrism and re-membering the African continent. Yet these...
Entrepreneurship performance positions the University of Venda to become an entrepreneurial institution
The LinkedIn page of Mr Promise Nyalungu (left) states: An inspired, energetic, optimistic, hardworking, 20-something-year-old. Born and bred in a dusty village of Limpopo....
The university as an incubator versus the university with an incubator
Higher education institutions need to evolve from merely being places of teaching, learning and research to drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship. With nearly nine million...
Universities could do more to support entrepreneurship development on their campuses
Universities and higher educational facilities no longer need to produce graduates who become job seekers rather, in the current economic climate, they need to generate...
The World of Work: requirements change for workers, students and universities
Deep concerns were raised about the ability and capability of universities to navigate the changes that will require them to be agile in this new...
A case for and against job losses in the new labour market
There are already around 2,7-million robots in operation, globally, with the overwhelming majority found in China. That number has grown by 13% per annum for...
Skilling, reskilling, up-skilling and cross-skilling needed for a changing Labour Market
Skills are the most critical element that needs to be talked about when discussing the South African labour market. So said Colin Thakur, ICT Professor...
Why absurd, crazy, non-consensus ideas create the best entrepreneurial results
“I want to offer a shift in perspective, not looking at the system as a whole and people as a source of labour or skills…...
Question Time: robots, public policy implications and rising studentpreneurship in the United Kingdom
Non-unionised automated robots that never need to go on leave, do not ask to go to the mall and are able to work without stopping...
At a human-centred university, technology meets humanity to enhance the realisation of an engaged university
Humans are living in a coded reality, doing a dance that is the interface between technology and humanity. This was the view of Professor...
Universities towards engagement in a digitised world
The university is both there and not there now. This was the enigmatic opening gambit of Professor Alwyn Louw, Vice Chancellor of Torrens University in...
ICTs firmly rooting teaching and learning online
What is the future role of the traditional Learning Management System (LMS) currently being used as an online tool at South African universities? This question...
Universities need strong and appropriately funded digital strategies to sustain, long term
CoViD-19 has forever reshaped the higher education landscape, accelerating changes that have been taking place over the last decade. For universities to remain competitive and...
Inclusive prosperity is what engaged universities should be prioritising; Private-public funding partnerships should enhance sustainable infrastructure development
An engaged university actively involves staff, students and members of its surrounding community and uses their feedback and expertise to shape the institution’s engagement strategy...
How universities can minimise risk in infrastructure management in the post-CoViD world
There has been a worldwide digital acceleration of higher education as a result of CoViD-19 but universities have been impacted in other ways due to the...
The developmental university is crucial but is not without risks
Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) conference on The Engaged University was important because of all the people it brought together in South Africa, and beyond its borders....
Universities must rethink how they do research to imagine a better trajectory for the future
Professor Laura Pereira did not exaggerate when she said she would be a giving a presentation from “a slightly different angle”. Billed as one of the...
Engagement is transformation: the university and community engagement
The mutual inter-dependence of transformation and community engagement was the grounding question for this engagement hosted by the Council on Higher education. Covering a range of...
Challenges of Monitoring and Evaluating Community Engagement at SA Universities
Community engagement is globally recognised for its role in and contribution to transforming civil society, and South African universities are keenly aware of their mandate to...
The benefits of national shared services for universities
Universities need a balance between competition and collaboration when it comes to shared services. The benefits of sharing services outweigh any potential disadvantages. “We have to...
The pros and cons of shared connectivity services; what SA’s higher education should also be considering
For the past two decades the Tertiary Education & Research Network of South Africa (TENET) has provided research and education networking services to enable collaborative inter-networking...
The Decadal Plan charts the way forward
The Department of Science and Innovation would not be abandoning basic science or the social sciences and humanities, Mr Daan Du Toit, Deputy-Director General: International Cooperation...
Microsoft invites universities to partner it in skills training gearing youth for the 4IR
South Africa has an exponential problem. CoViD-19 shone a spotlight on just how unprepared the country was. That problem requires an exponential solution. So said Mr...
Community Engagement in an Engaged University: Nelson Mandela University’s documented 18-year journey
“If we are to monitor and evaluate our community engagement effectively, we have to look at ourselves to see that we are not just paying lip...
On the ground: how universities are practically engaging with their communities
Narratives of community engagement took delegates from Mamelodi in Tshwane to Pietermaritzburg in KZN and Woodstock in the Western Cape. Covering a range of programmes from...
Partnerships based on the Sustainable Development Goals are key to universities tackling global challenges
Dr Hilligje van’t Land, Secretary-General of the International Association of Universities (IAU) based in Paris, was one of the international speakers at Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s)...
Transforming our universities into democratic civic institutions will help all South Africans — Ira Harkavy
The largest higher education conference in South Africa’s history, presented last week by Universities South Africa (USAf) partnering with the Council on Higher Education (CHE), featured...
Partnerships, rural development and internships are key to meeting the challenges of 4IR
The importance of internships and collaboration in the skills preparation space was mirrored by two speakers responding to panel presentations during a breakaway session of Universities...
Learning, teaching, research and administration optimised through shared technology infrastructure at UK universities
Learning, teaching and administration at universities and higher education centres in the United Kingdom (UK) has been revolutionised during the past quarter of a century-- thanks...
Optimum use of resources and anticipatory consciousness can enable universities to manage uncertainty
Institutions of higher learning need to be proactive and not reactive when it comes to financial sustainability. This was the view of Professor Ruksana Osman (right),...
Turning the tide of unemployment through the 4th Industrial Revolution
There is an urgent need to rethink what is to be done to get the unemployment rate – a staggering 64.4% of those aged between 15...
Creating a globally competitive economy through the 4IR
The proposed vision for South Africa in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) era is a globally competitive, inclusive, and shared economy - matched with technological capability...
The State must assume the cost of higher education
It is the State’s mandate to finance higher education. This was the view of Mr Phumelelani Mshumi, President of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at the...
Universities’ funding demand has outstripped State funding capacity
More South African students than ever require funding in order to attend institutions of higher learning. However, tough economic conditions combined with effects of CoViD-19 indicate...
The South African Centre for Digital Language Resources has resources and expertise
At the recent Colloquium on the revised Language Policy Framework for Higher Education, Professor Langa Khumalo, Executive Director of the South African Centre for Digital Language...
How the DHET intends harnessing funding to implement the revised language policy framework
Dr Thandi Lewin, Deputy Director-General: University Education in the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), said she knew people had asked a lot of questions...
The revised language policy framework needs a major cash injection to be implemented properly
It is not unimaginable that South African universities will need to spend between one to 5% of their budgets to implement the government’s new language policy...
South Africa’s universities must shed their dominant modern/colonial imaginary character to transform and become more responsive
South Africa’s universities must shed their dominant character and orientation that is trapped in a modern/colonial imaginary, to truly transform and become more responsive to their...
Universities need to re-think their use of resources and modes of engagement for an inclusive economy
South Africa is standing at a crossroads, facing an unprecedented set of challenges where ‘business as usual’ will not work; where universities must find new ways...
The Great Disruption; The Engaged University and Implications for the HE Sector
Professor Ahmed Bawa, Chief Executive Officer of Universities South Africa (USAf), opened the 2nd Higher Education Conference by telling delegates that there had been much agonising...
Afrikaans is one of the treasures of South African cultural expression; it does not need to be upgraded — Albie Sachs
Albie Sachs, political activist and retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, began his talk at the online Colloquium on the New Language Policy...
The value of multilingualism goes beyond mere convenience of communication
“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things but learning another way to think about things”. Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of...
Universities must make learning African Languages a condition for completing a degree
We have normalised the abnormal. How can a person be enrolled in an African university and graduate and exit without being able to speak an African...
How language can ‘humanise’ science
Language is a key instrument in humanising science. Doctor Elias Malete (right), Senior Lecturer and Academic Head of the African Languages department within the Humanities Faculty...
“We must hold ourselves to the highest standard of the transformation agenda” – Linda Meyer
Dr Linda Meyer (left), Director: Operations and Sector Support at Universities South Africa (USAf), chaired the session titled The Nexus Between Language and Transformation, which formed...
Stellenbosch University wants Afrikaans recognised as an indigenous language in the policy promoting multilingualism
One of the main challenges of the South African government’s new language policy framework for public higher education institutions is that it excludes Afrikaans as an...
The use of isiZulu at university level is a linguistic revolution
The use of isiZulu as an African language of teaching and learning at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) can be seen as a linguistic revolution. However,...
The transformation of NWU’s language policy and its far-reaching impact
Professor Robert Balfour, Deputy Vice Chancellor: Teaching and Learning) at North-West University (NWU), was joined by his colleague Dr Keaobaka Seshoka, Language Director for the university’s...
The new language policy provides a host of opportunities for reimagining universities in Africa
Universities must be globally competitive but we must never ignore our local context. That was the message Professor Francis Petersen, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the...
Translanguaging could revolutionise the use of African languages in higher education
The revised Language Police Framework opens ideological and implementation spaces for the simultaneous development and use of African languages in higher education and offers a panacea...
As universities, we must commit differently to the language imperative, lest history judge us harshly – Dion Nkomo
The revised Language Policy Framework for Higher Education Institutions comes into effect in 2022. If public universities are to strategically position themselves to exploit multilingualism as...
Practical lessons shared from the University of the Free State’s experimentation with multilingual pedagogies
Multilingual pedagogies are achievable when academics are willing to put them to effective use, and when institutional leadership invests the necessary resources to develop and intellectualise...
Multilingual learning and teaching practices at the University of Cape Town
Multilingual pedagogies received dedicated attention again on Day Two of Universities South Africa’s Colloquium on the New Language Policy for Higher Education last week when the...
Should Afrikaans be declared South Africa’s indigenous language?
Professor Mbulungeni Madiba, Dean of Education at Stellenbosch University, chaired the question-and-answer session which wrapped the fourth plenary session – The New Language Policy for Higher...
What would have happened if European intellectual giants had not been instructed in their mother tongue?
If intellectual giants in history – legendary names such as Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Karl Marx and many others – had been instructed in...
Institutions need active leadership on language policies
Institutions need to actively play leadership roles and ensure that the country’s language journey doesn't take another 19 years for it to be successfully implemented. This...
Linguistic diversity must be embraced for all to reach their full potential
All higher learning institutions must develop strategies, policies and implementation plans for promoting multilingualism. South Africa’s revised Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions commits...
Multilingualism and equity are the essence of the New Language Policy Framework
The Language Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions is premised on two fundamental strategies: South Africa’s Constitution of 1996 and the Education White Paper 3:...
Vice-Chancellors of public universities to confer on the New Language Policy for Higher Education from 28 to 29 September
At an important point in the history of South Africa’s Higher Education System, vice-chancellors of public universities will gather with experts and other stakeholders to contemplate...
Studentpreneurs should stop focusing on writing plans and concentrate on making businesses happen
Student entrepreneurs tend to be obsessed with writing business plans, how to access money, register their company, set up a bank account, and with buzzwords such...
A studentpreneur offers advice to other students thinking of starting a business
Chad Lucas (right), a third-year BCom student at Sol Plaatje University (SPU) in Kimberley, and Deputy-Chair of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE)Studentpreneurs Community of Practice,...
Everything about online business… shared first-hand at SPU’s #SEW2021
Money is not the most important need when starting a business: a good idea and persistence are. This was just one of the snippets of wisdom...
The FASSET & USAf partnership promises great potential for the African child
Ms Ayanda Mafuleka, CEO of the Finance and Accounting Services SETA (FASSET) has been at the helm of the organisation since early 2019. Mafuleka is a...
An entrepreneurial attitude is a crucial life skill
Being entrepreneurial is about more than just running a successful business; it is also about having the right mind set and attitude, qualities that equip you...
A Sol Plaatje University student’s entrepreneurial journey to success
Sol Plaatje University, in Kimberley, must be chest-puffingly proud of Chad Lucas, a final year BCom student who has been selected as the Deputy Chairperson of...
Proud eight-year-old Sol Plaatje University hosts #SEW2021
The Northern Cape might be South Arica’s largest province, but it has the sad distinction of also having the lowest level of education among South African...
Skilling the nation stands to succeed when personal and organisational philosophies converge
She is driven by the desire to ensure that today’s younger generation and those to follow have a better life and believes that quality education holds...
Public universities’ poor performance on gender transformation targets must be penalised – two leaders suggest
The hearings that the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has conducted in the last ten years in the university sector indicate that the absence of...
A different approach to gender transformation could yield more favourable results, Dr Thandi Mgwebi suggests
The university sector should consider selling the benefits of transformation rather than force or impose change. Dr Thandi Mgwebi (left), Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and...
Universities South Africa expresses dismay at the brutal killing of Ms Nosicelo Mtebeni
The Chairperson of Universities South Africa (USAf), Professor Sibongile Muthwa, has this morning expressed her shock and dismay at the ruthless and senseless killing of Ms...
During Women’s Month 2021, USAf’s TMF and HERS-SA examine burning gender issues within Higher Education
August 2021 marks the beginning of a second round of a collaboration commemorating Women's Month, between Universities South Africa’s Transformation Managers' Forum (TMF) and Higher Education...
Government moves to balance theoretical learning with vocational, occupational and technical learning in basic education
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has ignited a conversation among universities providing teacher education to inspire a rethink of initial teacher education and training, with...
Registration is now open for delegates wishing to attend USAf’s 2nd Higher Education Conference virtually – Source: Universities South Africa (USAf)
The 2nd Universities South Africa (USAf) Higher Education Conference, conducted in collaboration with the Council on Higher Education (CHE), will take place from 6 to 8...
Vice-Chancellors unite in addressing the threats to South Africa’s democracy
The Board of Universities South Africa has expressed deep concern over the civil unrest that broke out in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal recently. Reducing what played out...
The EDHE Programme is poised to succeed in creating entrepreneurial universities in South Africa
A study undertaken to evaluate the partnership between Universities South Africa’s Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme and the British Council (South Africa) has found...
Understanding the experience of academic leaders and staff: the SEP-TLF survey
The Council on Higher Education (CHE), Universities South Africa (USAf) and the University of the Free State (UFS) are currently administering the Staff Experience of, and...
ETDP SETA’s debt intervention helps retain a student in a UFS study programme
A firm resolve to obtain university education motivated an Umlazi Township resident to push for the funding he needed to get a bachelor’s degree. Twenty-two-year-old Mr...
Insights from the R&I Dialogue 2021 to inform the RISG’s future action plan
Universities South Africa’s Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG) will use its next meeting in 2021 to critically reflect on what transpired at the recent...
Even diehard social scientists have embraced purely quantitative methodologies in pandemic times
The CoVID-19 pandemic has brought out the need to be agile, even if it goes against long-held principles, says Sarah Mosoetsa, Associate Professor of Sociology...
50 students receive Standard Bank sponsored laptops at MUT
Thursday, 17th of June, 2021, was a day of jubilation at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT). Twenty-nine of the 50 students benefitting from the Standard...
Universities urged to not overlook undergraduate students in promoting entrepreneurship
At a recent Executive Leadership Workshop (ELW), Dr Norah Clarke, Director: Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) prompted deputy vice-chancellors and executive management to find the gold in...
Research; How to ensure it is ethical and why society has a right to know about its outcomes
Most universities have a whistleblowing policy but when we see what we consider to be unethical behavior, is it a duty or an obligation to...
South Africa’s researchers shine a spotlight on ethical scholarship
The ethics of CoVID-19 vaccine trials and impending state penalties for unethical publishing were key topics in the session on Ethical Research and Integrity at...
Update to DVCs on EDHE’s new initiatives
Two months ago, Stellenbosch University posted on LinkedIn that its Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies, Professor Eugene Cloete, had been selected as the...
A more accessible world; lessons to learn from the pandemic
The current pandemic has had some positive effects that will outlive CoVID-19 and be built on for future generations in the learning and teaching environment....
Budget cuts hold back transformation and hurt innovation
The key takeaway from the last global financial crisis was that countries with weak innovation systems suffered more from the downturn in economic activity, after...
Underfunding is a threat to Postgraduate studies
The CoVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the already challenging higher education funding landscape in South Africa, so say Professor Fulufhelo Nelwamondo (below left), National Research Foundation’s...
CoVID-19 has shown that collaboration and partnerships are critical for the system
CoVID-19 has unmasked the pressing need for more collaboration among universities and an end to debilitating austerity measures that cripple student postgraduate funding. This was among...
Notwithstanding major disruptions, CoVID-19 has in its own way benefitted science and humanity
Even though CoVID-19 has upended life as we knew it before 2020, the pandemic yielded significant benefits to science and humanity; it also brought to the...
Mining patent data can help entrepreneurial universities
Mr Dawid Prozesky (right), Senior Associate and Patent Attorney at KISCH IP, the law firm which assists a lot of South African universities with their intellectual...
It is the memories that help rate good and bad leaders
Professor Eugene Cloete, Vice-Rector: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at Stellenbosch University chose an interactive approach when addressing a group of senior university leaders on the...
Staving off the apocalypse; finding answers to questions that have social value
If anyone has thought facing one problem was more than enough, they haven’t chanced upon Erwin Schwella. The Dean in the School of Social Innovation at...
How universities can play a role in solving South Africa’s almost unsolvable challenges
Take a drive to the airport in Cape Town, and along the way you can see the challenges South Africa faces. These are our wicked problems,...
Universities will become extinct if they don’t change their roles
Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at Stellenbosch University, warned higher education leaders at Universities South Africa’s third Executive Leadership Workshop (ELW) in...
Universities can benefit it they join forces and unlock students’ sense of entitlement
Could the Western Cape be the setting for South Africa's first regional powerhouse of a Science and Technology Innovation Park? This was one of the ideas...
Why entrepreneurship development in higher education is inevitable
Entrepreneurship is as essential to reducing crippling poverty and unemployment as it is to boosting the economy. These were the opening remarks of Dr Engela van...
Universities need to align and partner with existing incubators
One of the country’s prominent innovation specialists urged local universities to form partnerships with existing incubators rather than incurring the costs involved with setting up their...
DVCs have the decision-making power to turn South Africa around through entrepreneurship
Deputy Vice-Chancellors at South Africa’s universities were last Thursday challenged to change their mind-set if they wanted their institutions to become more entrepreneurial spaces. Peddling the...
EDHE’s Executive Leadership Workshop gets DVCs engaging towards a national university entrepreneurship policy.
Nearly all 26 of South Africa's universities are represented at the third round of the annual Executive Leadership Workshop (ELW) which, this year, is being hosted...
ETDP SETA wishes to cement ties with USAf for continuing benefit to universities.
The Education, Training and Development Practice Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) has confirmed to the Skills Development Facilitators (SDF) Forum that they...
African language experts set up committees to explore sharing resources and mentoring new academics
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed several systemic forms of inequality in the higher education system. It is essential that Universities South Africa (USAf), the representative body of...
Exhilaration as USAf’s fundraising for the higher education sector surpasses half of the R1 billion target
In the second quarter of 2020, Universities South Africa (USAf) undertook to raise R1 billion in 24 months as a contribution to remedying the perennial financial...
Nanjing Tech University in China is inviting applications from South African students
One of China's top universities, namely Nanjing Tech University (Njtech), is inviting South African students seeking to pursue either undergraduate or postgraduate studies to consider enrolling...
The learnership programme for insourced security personnel at universities is lauded a success
The first cohort of trainees drawn from universities’ security officers who were absorbed into universities as part of a sector-wide insourcing initiative completed their learnerships...
The Board welcomes new members while paying tribute to retired peers
The complexities confronting higher education leaders are very far removed from, and can easily divert attention from universities’ core functions of teaching and learning. Professor Wim...
The USAf Board commits to finding sustainable funding solutions for the sector, within 2021
The 27-strong Board of Directors of Universities South Africa has ruled out the possibility of granting amnesty to student debt accumulated from unpaid tuition and residence...
Focus on your strengths to bring about change in your environment
Looking at where we are globally, the uncertainties we are constantly facing including disruptions caused by the corona pandemic, tapping into our strengths could be the...
STATEMENT BY COUNCIL OF RHODES UNIVERSITY ON FISCAL CONSTRAINTS, FINANCIAL CRISES AND FUNDING CHALLENGES
The Council of Rhodes University has expressed grave concern over persistent funding challenges confronting the post-school education and training (PSET) sector, in general, and Rhodes University,...
Temporary WIL guidelines for universities in the context of CoVID-19
A year after CoVID-19 landed on our shores, its effects still linger, and to no less a measure in the higher education sector. Executing Work Integrated...
Guidelines for Universities to follow Regarding Work Integrated Learning in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Following the hard (Level 5) lockdown in 2020, Universities SA’s Work Strategy Group conducted a study in collaboration with the Council on Higher Education and...
Student Women to receive dedicated focus in EDHE Phase Two
Levelling the playing field for student women, and graduates, will be a priority for the next three years in Phase Two of the Entrepreneurship Development in...
The 2021 EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity competition launches today
Today, the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) launches the third edition of the annual EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity. The launch of the competition is integrated into...
Phase Two of EDHE kicks off on a high from 24 March
Phase Two of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme starts with a jam-packed three-day kick-off event that will be streamed live on EDHE's Facebook...
Awardees of the HSRC-USAf Medal in Social Sciences and Humanities Announced
At a virtual event last night, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Universities South Africa (USAf) announced the awardees in the 2020 HSRC-USAf Medal in...
The HSRC and USAf jointly celebrate South Africa’s outstanding academics and researchers in Social Sciences and Humanities
After a rigorous adjudication process, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Universities South Africa (USAf) will later today announce the awardees in the 2020 HSRC-USAf...
The HSRC and USAf jointly celebrate South Africa’s outstanding academics and researchers in Social Sciences and Humanities
After a rigorous adjudication process, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Universities South Africa (USAf) will later today announce the awardees in the 2020...
The crisis in student funding in 2021: Higher education must be recognised as a site of investment rather than one of expenditure
At the beginning of another academic year the unaffordability of higher education for many students and their families has once again convulsed South Africa’s 26 public...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
On the eve of the HSRC-USAf Social Sciences and Humanities research awards event, we bring you the last batch of four teams contending for the Team...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
At two days away from the HSRC-USAf awards D-Day, we feature the first four of eight teams contending for the Team Awards at this esteemed event....
Invitation to the EDHE KICK-OFF event 2021 #againstallodd
Greetings, Champions for Entrepreneurship at Universities! As you are starting a new academic year at SA universities, the EDHE team takes pleasure in inviting you to...
SASSETA grants USAf R10m to clear away tuition fees debt of senior students
The Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) has made a grant of R10 million to Universities South Africa (USAf) as a contribution to...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
Day 6 - As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
Day 5 - As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
Day 4 - As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
Day 3 - As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics...
Countdown to the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics nominated for recognition...
HSRC and USAf announce nominees for the 2020 Medal in Social Sciences and Humanities
Pretoria, Tuesday 9 March 2021–The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and Universities South Africa (USAf) are pleased to announce the nominees for the 2020 Medal...
2020/21 Medal for Social Sciences and Humanities
As the countdown begins towards the HSRC-USAf Medal for Social Scientists and Humanities ceremony, we invite you to meet the researchers and academics nominated for recognition...
Debt relief as 9500 students receive the USAf-raised ETDP SETA grant
In an environment where thousands of students continuously battle with university tuition fees, a minimum of 9500 students were spared this annual pain when their tuition...
Public universities are ready to receive the NSC Class of 2020 into higher education, and to see them succeed
As public universities gear themselves to receive the National School Certificate Class of 2020 on their various campuses, Universities South Africa has assured the new entrants...
USAf’s Teaching and Learning Strategy Group kicks off 2021 with a comprehensive agenda
The 2021 inaugural meeting of the Teaching and Learning Strategy Group (TLSG) kicked off with the Chairperson of the Group and Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Rhodes...
Up to R336 million raised by USAf in 2020, in support of students and lecturers
At the first meeting for 2021, of the Teaching and Learning Strategy Group, Dr Linda Meyer, Director: Operations and Sector Support at USAf, updated the TLSG...
Students’ Access to and Use of Learning Materials
A study completed by the University of the Free State’s Centre for Teaching and Learning has brought to the surface, students’ experiences of emergency remote...
Human Sciences Research Council – HSRC Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities to celebrate contributions to South Africa’s fight against COVID-19
Pretoria, Tuesday 2 February 2021 – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf) invites nominations for the HSRC Medal for...
Human Sciences Research Council – HSRC Medal for the Social Sciences and Humanities to celebrate contributions to South Africa’s fight against COVID-19
Pretoria, Tuesday 2 February 2021 – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with Universities South Africa (USAf) invites nominations for the HSRC Medal...
Not bouncing back but bouncing forward: South African higher education in 2021 and beyond
At the end of a year that has demoralised and literally devastated higher education globally, it was a buoyant Minister Blade Nzimande that opened the Higher...
ABSA-donated laptops relieve Unizulu students from learning in difficult conditions
Imagine living in an area where, to access email, you had to walk to an only spot outside your village that is known to receive a...
The fear of being stifled in a corporate world drove her to seek options in entrepreneurship
With two successful social enterprises under her belt and currently occupying a chief executive position in a thriving company, Ms Matsi Modise says looking back 11...
Standard Bank-sponsored laptops help to restore students’ normality at SMU
Sheer gratitude is the sentiment shared by four students drawn from the 83 recipients of laptops at the Sefako Makgatho University of Health Sciences (SMU), that...
Next-phase EDHE funding from 2021 to 2023 is an investment in youth
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme will receive R30 million funding for the second three-year cycle from 2021 to 2023, Dr Diane Parker Deputy...
UNIVEN is the Winning University in the EDHE Intervarsity 2020
By virtue of being the hosting institution to the EDHE Studentpreneur of the Year 2020, the University of Venda (UNIVEN) was pronounced the Winning University in...
Studentpreneur of the Year 2020 dedicates his Award to Ga Mokgokong, his home village
A University of Venda (UNIVEN) Honours student in International Relations made history last Friday, when he won, not just the prize for Category 3 representing Existing...
CoVID-19 ignited students’ creativity in entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship coordinators at South Africa's public universities have forged ahead, notwithstanding CoVID-19 and lockdown, and continued to guide and inspire students. Ms Karen Snyman, Student Life...
False Bay College supports SMMEs: the engine and back bone of SA’s economy
In 2019, False Bay vocational education and training (TVET) College won the Productivity South Africa award in the Western Cape for the public sector, and went...
USAf’s Education Deans’ Forum made 2020 count, amidst challenges
Deans of Education from South Africa’s 26 public universities used the last meeting of the Education Deans’ Forum (EDF) for 2020 to reflect on this...
MUT’s final-year HR Management students rise to the entrepreneurship challenge
It is all very well to tell matriculants to apply for further studies and funding, online, but if they live in a rural area with minimal...
A UWC panel believes South Africa needs more women techpreneurs
Women needed to be encouraged to consider a future career in tech and entrepreneurship. This view was expressed by three women in a panel discussion on...
UJ presents loads of ideas for studentpreneurs – from starting a tech business to protecting your brand
There's something about a shower that generates ideas. "The shower is notorious for dropping ideas in your brain, everybody knows that," said Professor Abejide Ade-Ibijola of...
UFH: The value of a business plan extends far beyond raising funds for an enterprise
Very few people are willing to draw up their own business plans. Usually, it is something entrepreneurs do only when they want to access finance from...
WSU is encouraging its students to live up to its namesake’s ideals of making a difference
WSU is encouraging its students to live up to its namesake's ideals of making a differenceProfessor Rob Midgley, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Walter Sisulu University (WSU)...
Through its i-GYM facility, the Central University of Technology has created an entrepreneurial buzz on campus
On Friday 13 November Gareth Gericke, a Master's student in Electronic Engineering at the Central University of Technology (CUT), competed in the finals of the BOOST...
VUT advises: tapping into your inner creativity in contemplating a business
Are you beautiful? Have you won a beauty competition? Look to yourself and ask yourself what your talents are, when generating ideas for a business. So...
From electric bikes to online tutoring – Rhodes University studentpreneurs are hard at work
Mr Siphesihle Phenyane, who is in the final year of Economics and Management undergraduate studies at Rhodes University (RU), knows all about battling to get around...
Nelson Mandela University proudly shares the entrepreneurial journey of its globally famous alumnus
At the recent national Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2020), Nelson Mandela University began its presentation with a quote from the legend after whom it is named, the...
A call for nominations for the EDHE DVC Award for 2020
With the EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals fast approaching, in Gauteng, on 26-27 November, the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme invites the entrepreneurship community within...
The conversation at the Round Table on African languages and 4IR suggested new ways of thinking
Should South African universities focus only on their own African languages? What is happening about the digitisation of indigenous language literature? Is interdisciplinarity essential for...
We will lose our identity if African languages are left behind in the world of technology
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is regarded as the era when things become smaller and faster. However, the smaller part is debatable because when it comes...
Data is the new commodity in our digital world
Dr Karen Calteaux, from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has never forgotten a comment a Google speech technologist made at a conference...
What to look out for as a tech-based entrepreneur
At last week's Student Entrepreneurship Week, Mr Brandon Paschal, Vice President of Innovation at Stellenbosch University's LaunchLab, shared rich insights drawn from years of running a...
The Durban University of Technology has every reason to be proud of the studentpreneurs it has produced
The Durban University of Technology (DUT) used its 30 minutes at last week's Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2020) to brag about its achievements as it showcased successful...
Disrupt, dare to be different and emerge from chaos, intact – UCT’s VC
Antifragility, the ability to emerge from a storm of chaos, crisis and challenge transformed and improved, should be every student entrepreneur's mantra. This was the central...
Africa needs to speed up its innovation pace, says SPU’s Dr Malvin Nkomo
While Africans learn how to drive manual cars, innovators in the technology and start-up haven, Silicon Valley, are inventing driverless cars. In a virtual presentation during...
A UP academic is leading cutting-edge research to increase the availability of African languages online
If you have ever thought “there are hardly any African languages on the internet”, Dr Vukosi Marivate’s presentation at a recent USAf Round Table not...
UNISA brings crucial advice to studentpreneurs on raising venture capital funding
Make Nigeria your primary target market if you want to make it big and ensure that your tech start-up has the potential for sustainable growth. This...
The University of Mpumalanga is about to kick-off its entrepreneurship strategy, in style
It is significant that the University of Mpumalanga (UMP)'s new Entrepreneurship Centre is in a building outside the institution itself. This is because its activities are...
A meeting on decolonisation of pedagogy raises fierce debates among academics
A robust engagement around pedagogy in higher education institutions ensued on Friday, 30 October 2020, during the Transformation Managers' Forum (TMF) webinar. The session titled:...
University of KwaZulu-Natal’s InQubate showcases its success stories in entrepreneurship
At the three-day national Student Entrepreneurship Week (#SEW2020) that was hosted by Universities South Africa's Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme last week, the audience...
CoVID-19 proves to have been a game changer in 2020 public events
When CoVID-19 froze contact meetings and sent organisations scrambling to find alternative modes of engagement, Universities South Africa and its programmes were not spared. However, what...
Universities SA expresses confidence in the NSC Class of 2020 and wishes them well in the final examination
As South Africa’s Class of 2020 enters the third day of their final National School Certificate (NSC) examinations, Universities South Africa (USAf) wishes to express its...
University of Limpopo graduates are enjoying the rewards of running their own businesses
Call it hands-on, practical or how to put your studies into practice, but the University of Limpopo (UL) refers to the type of entrepreneurship they are...
Strategic entrepreneurship insights from the University of the Free State
Mr Gerard Verhoef, Director: Contracts and Innovation at University of the Free State was very open about his University's entrepreneurship strategy at the #SEW2020, this week....
Engaging a CoP for Studentpreneurs at one’s university can propel one’s business
Ms Refilwe Mogale knows all about being an entrepreneur while straddling one's studies; that is, being a studentpreneur. She is a student at the University of...
The UFS is set on a path to become an entrepreneurial university
During one of the #SEW2020 sessions dedicated to the University of the Free State (UFS) on Monday, Mr Sakhumzi Dukwe, a Master of Commerce in Entrepreneurship...
Transformation and visual redress at universities requires much more than simple discussions
The year 2015, particularly 9 April of that year, will forever symbolise a change in the South African higher education sector. It was on this day...
Entrepreneurship for the common good: helping communities while creating jobs and earning a living
Be unreasonable. Disrupt. Be dogged. Don't give up. Find local solutions for problems experienced in your community. But most of all, take responsibility and make things...
Student Entrepreneurship Week 2020 promises an exciting multi-institutional programme
Student Entrepreneurship Week 2020 (#SEW2020) kicked off with resounding approval from three leading figures in Higher Education who all agreed that entrepreneurship and the creation of...
How USAf is working towards bringing prominence to African languages in cyberspace
When COVID-19 struck and communication went largely online, Prof Mbulungeni Madiba soon realised how inadequate African languages are in the digital arena. Read more> ...
The national Student Entrepreneurship Week is the best empowerment platform for students aspiring to become entrepreneurs
Students enrolled in higher education institutions need to appreciate more than ever before, that employment, after graduating from university, is not a given. CoVID-19 has dampened...
The USAf Board takes a stand on corruption
At the final ordinary sitting on 20 October, the Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf) acknowledged that corruption had reached endemic levels in the...
A fearless strategist will be missed in South Africa’s higher education sector
The outgoing Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand, Professor Adam Habib, was this week described as a fearless strategist who will be sorely...
Public universities to jointly curb COVID-19-risky student behaviour on campuses
The Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf) has noted with grave concern, reports of reckless student behaviour on campuses since South Africa relaxed the...
A personal problem led to a NWU professor developing an award-winning COVID-19 screening app
Professor Leenta Grobler (left) says she has always questioned everything and looked for problems to solve, a trait that led her to engineering, a field in...
Transformation of institutional cultures, and curricula, is feasible when done in consultation with students; UKZN demonstrates
From a scholarly project commenced in 2017, four academics had come together to share insights emerging from on-going research projects investigating what to change, how...
Whether in Norway or South Africa, teaching entrepreneurship follows similar routes and enjoys similar successes
A South African and a Norwegian perspective on teaching through entrepreneurship formed part of the discussion on The University as Catalyst for Entrepreneurial Change at the...
The love of brewing beer set the scene for an unexpected business success
Two scholars at the University of the Free State (UFS) took their scientific know-how and, together, with support from the university, created a successful business. Read...
Wits is breaking barriers with a plan for a dual degree to develop innovation
Professor Nithaya Chetty was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand in December 2019 and immediately started tackling the problem...
A new business school course which puts entrepreneurship on the main menu
Ms Yogavelli "Yogi" Nambiar, CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, struck a cord when she asked at the recent Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE)...
Business school stalwarts talk about the changing role of these institutions
Who do business schools serve? Are they only about big business? Or only about MBAs? Are they relevant? Can they develop entrepreneurial mindsets? These were some...
Business schools and big business making big money – a myth or reality?
There is a perception in South Africa, and internationally, that business schools are making obscene amounts of money because they exist only to serve big corporates...
Universities should lead the battle against poverty through entrepreneurship
Professor Michael Morris, leader in the field of Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana in the United States, gave a...
COVID-19 has necessitated injection of more resources into the entrepreneurship ecosystem
Ms Jaana Puukka, an international expert in higher education and innovation based in Nice in France, was one of many international presenters at the recent 4th...
How UWC fosters digital skills, entrepreneurship and innovation in its local communities
Digital inclusion (that is, open access to technology) is of critical importance to young South Africans, if they are to participate meaningfully in the digital economy....
Artificial intelligence is at the heart of national advancement
Dr Sumarie Roodt, Chairperson at the Silicon Cape Initiative and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems in the Commerce Faculty at the University...
Perspectives on commercialisation and technology transfer in the SA university ecosystem
Professor Kyle Farmbry of Rutgers University in Newark in the United States (US) made an announcement at the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla that...
Why technology is not enough for the digital economy; Lessons for Generation Z
For technological changes to transform the economy, cultural barriers need to be overcome, and 'the rules of the game' (institutions) have to change. So said Ms...
We need to exercise vigilance when operating on digital platforms
An information technology expert has urged internet users to exercise absolute vigilance in their usage of digital platforms in the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) era. Professor...
It took one pivot after another to build a sustainable technology business in Tanzania
Mr. Baraka Mtunga, Managing Partner, Quest Africa, resigned from the corporate world in the United States of America and later at a telecommunications company in his...
Standard Bank has donated R3 million to high risk universities
The Standard Bank Group has donated R3 million to six public universities regarded by the Department of Higher Education and Training as being more vulnerable than...
How studentpreneurs can find opportunity in Africa’s vast array of problems
Ms Ellen Fischat has gone from being born into humble surroundings in the Eastern Cape to working with global captains of industry and representing African women...
Two experts talk about family businesses
Family businesses have been found to outperform others in times of crisis such as during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Harvard Business Review said the 21st...
If SA rates entrepreneurship a top career choice, then we have the potential to do better
Universities do not necessarily need separate courses on enterprise and entrepreneurship. Instead, entrepreneurship should be a lens through which we look at all education and the...
South Africa, and Africa could soar high by transitioning to the green economy
The frustrations and disappointments that she encountered in her early career days prompted her to start her own enterprise. Ms Vere Shaba, founder and CEO of...
How universities need to respond to the effects of climate change
Climate change has effectively changed our relationship with the planet and how we live on it. This was the shared view of three respected academics sharing...
How graduates exploit technology to transition from university to the workplace
At the EDHE Lekgotla 2020, during a session titled University Entrepreneurship in Africa, a guest speaker from the University of Nigeria shared important insights on Transition...
The Challenges and Opportunities facing Higher Education Institutions in the Digital Era
Three leading South African academics shared a virtual platform to discuss High Tech Innovation in Africa at the annual Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla...
Smart farming technologies present solutions to farming challenges
New-entry farmers stand a better chance of succeeding in their farming ventures when they adopt smart technology applications. Ms Mbali Nwoko, Chief Executive Farmer at Green...
Unsettling paradigms; the quest for inclusive and democratised knowledge
From a scholarly project commenced in 2017, four academics had come together to share insights emerging from on-going research projects investigating what to change, how...
Science, discipline and firm business acumen birthed CapeBio Technologies (Pty) Ltd
She threw her full weight behind her studies and, in the process, obtained her BSc in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with no fewer than 24 distinctions...
How the Durban University of Technology supports the growth of student startup businesses
The question posed to Ms Dineo Lioma (on Monday, 14 September) regarding: Where do you locate South African universities in this space (offering technical skills, exposure...
Unsettling paradigms; the quest for inclusive and democratised knowledge
From a scholarly project commenced in 2017, four academics had come together to share insights emerging from on-going research projects investigating what to change, how...
Universities hold the key to South Africa’s economic recovery – speakers at the opening of EDHE Lekgotla 2020 concede
The first two speakers at the opening session of the 4th annual national Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla were such a hit that the...
African child: problems of this continent are your opportunities to innovate and profit…
Although the African continent is plagued by many challenges, such as basic healthcare, food and water security as well as exponentially high unemployment rates, massive opportunities...
Unsettling paradigms; the quest for inclusive and democratised knowledge
She revolutionised the teaching of Instrumental Music Studies at Rhodes University by substituting western musical instruments for indigenous African performance practice. In just three years,...
All systems go for the EDHE Lekgotla 2020
The 4th Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Lekgotla, starts today. This event is being anchored from USAf’s offices in Hatfield and freely live-streamed on the...
Covid-19 fosters a need to re-imagine the university as a social institution
Covid-19 has upended higher education across the world. Deep concerns related to its infectiousness, virulence and the trajectory of spread all contribute to extraordinary uncertainties shaping...
USAf has adopted a Code of Conduct re: POPIA as a guide to universities
In the quest to prepare and enable its member institutions to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Universities South Africa compiled a...
Online learning is integral to the future of Higher Education; embrace it or become irrelevant
COVID-19 has presented an opportunity to Africa's universities to take stock of their current practices and identify new ways of doing things; all for resilience...
Registrations are open for a virtual Study-in-Japan Fair from 14-18 September 2020
The Government of Japan is encouraging more students from Sub-Saharan Africa, especially South Africa, to enrol in Japanese higher education. Japan offers a variety of courses...
Public universities are accepting 2021 applications
Despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 in 2020, the applications season is open at most public universities, with varying closing dates across the sector. Read...
A Special Board Meeting to explore the financial status of the higher education sector – especially in the context of COVID-19
The USAf Board of Directors has given the nod to a suggestion to convene a Special Board Meeting as soon as possible, to focus specifically on...
South Africa’s universities’ visit to China: 14-24 October 2019
A 12-person delegation of South Africa’s universities visited China’s top five universities in October 2019, to explore building a collaborative relationship between universities of the...
Preparations for staff and students’ phased return to campuses progressing well, universities report
From Friday 27 March 2020 university campuses in South Africa have been largely deserted, even more so than during vacations. No students have been buzzing...
COVID-19 has not sounded a death knell on contact teaching as we know it, says Dr Sizwe Mabizela
If you thought that COVID-19 had sounded a death knell on contact teaching as we know it, think again, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor and Principal...
Universities are enduring the COVID-19 pain with students; they believe in pulling through, together
As university leaders re-committed to completing the 2020 year without leaving a single student behind, a student shared the pain of having to access lectures...
Appendices: Universities’ individual accounts of on-going research and stakeholder engagement in the fight against COVID-19
The attachments in this box represent universities’ individual accounts of on-going research and stakeholder engagement in the fight against COVID-19. USAf will continue to add to...
Business continuity in the face of COVID-19 dominates the agenda of the USAf Board of Directors’ meeting
The impact of the coronavirus on universities’ operations dominated the agenda of USAf’s Board of Directors’ meeting on Tuesday, 24 March. The meeting which was executed...
Staff from the Universities SA Office are working from home
The Universities South Africa (USAf) Office has equipped its 46-member staff to work from home, with effect from 23 March. In a staff briefing held...
“We need to enhance their learning experience for nothing but success”
As students arrive at various campuses to register for their first year of undergraduate study, all role-players within the university system would do well to pull...
Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition 2020 launched in Gauteng
The 2020 edition of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition was launched in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 21 January. It was a joyful event attended by academics and...
EDHE Shining a Spotlight on Studentpreneurs across South Africa
The Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme will be launching the second iteration of the national Entrepreneurship Intervarsity 2020 competition on 21 January 2020 at...
Entering entrepreneurship competitions is the best thing students could do for their start-up ventures
At the 2020 Entrepreneurship Intervarsity Competition event on 21 January, all four winners from the 2019 competition were invited onto the stage to participate in...
Universities South Africa acquires a new Director: Operations and Sector Support
Dr Linda Meyer is the new Director: Operations and Sector Support at Universities South Africa (USAf). She succeeds Dr Berene Kramer who hung up her...
Universities in China reach out to their SA counterparts for collaboration
On 11 December, Universities South Africa hosted a five-member delegation of the China Association of Higher Education (CAHE) at USAf's offices in Hatfield, Pretoria. The...
Board elects a new Chairperson
At their third and final sitting for 2019, the USAf Board of Directors elected Professor Sibongile Muthwa, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Nelson Mandela University as the...
South Africa’s Scholarly Presses; Essential to the knowledge enterprise
Notwithstanding the significant contribution of scholarly publishers to knowledge production nationally and globally, changes taking place in the world of publishing – including digitisation; the...
The HELM programme is lauded a lifeline to universities’ middle managers
The packed venue made it look like USAf had underestimated attendee numbers. But the group actually included an overflow of individuals who could not attend...
Culture change within public universities could improve performance on many fronts
Heads of departments who completed the final leg of the Foundation Programme training in Pretoria last week seem to be of the view that even...
System-wide collaboration and partnerships are the way to capacitating early career academics
The fourth plenary at Universities South Africa's Higher Education conference, titled Generating talent: transforming support for the research landscape in South Africa, was different to...
Entrepreneurship has taken root at numerous institutions with impressive results; however, universities still need to do far more
The question of graduates' readiness for the world of work took centre-stage at the recent National Higher Education Conference. Questions arose on: What attributes do...
Hunting down the elephant in the room: transformation and institutional culture
"The best way to stop a conversation about institutional culture is to attempt to get a shared definition of it." -- Prof André Keet The...
Giant leaps for mankind – South African universities must stop being shy and move from research to entrepreneurial success
The session titled Imagining the exponential and entrepreneurial university of the 21st century at University South Africa's recent national higher education conference scored top marks...
You cannot reinvent South Africa’s universities for the future without reassessing the curriculum – but there isn’t an easy formula for it
If there is one aspect that is integral to conceptualising universities of the future, it is the question of what is taught and learnt. This...
Five speakers and five different views on which principles should drive the design for social justice in universities
The session on transformation by design at Universities South Africa's recent conference on higher education got off to an unexpected start. The title of the...
Ethics in research publishing has become a hotbed of concern for academics and institutions
One of the first sessions on the opening day of Universities South Africa's recent Higher Education conference addressed the gravity and extent of unethical research,...
The CHE shares its plans and priorities — and sparks off a debate
Established as an independent statutory body in May 1998 in terms of the Higher Education Act of the previous year, the Council on Higher Education...
Student Funding, Past, Present, Future
The context On December 16, 2017, the then President, Jacob Zuma, declared that the government would provide free higher education and training for poor...
Reshaping the university to become responsive
What are we good for? The idea of the university that is plugged into and responsive to the physical context in which it finds...
Mining the numbers: the state of research in South Africa
The presentation was divided into two sections. The first was a summary of a study carried out called The state of the South African research enterprise (2019)...
Infrastructure planning for future universities requires a total paradigm shift
If you thought that a building is just bricks, mortar and glass; a purely utilitarian enclosure and an insignificant player in the life of a...
In the year 2025: the future of technology and learning in higher education
Utopia or dystopia Prof Paul Prinsloo, Research Professor: Department of Business Management at the University of South Africa (UNISA), led delegates through a rapid-fire...
Notwithstanding job losses suffered due to new technological advances, new jobs are also being created
The world is being turned on its head and this is a good thing, according to Dr Colin Thakur, the global expert who put the...
Universities need to be mindful of the social impact of their responses to modern technologies and the changing world of work
What are integrated technologies? At the recent USAf-hosted National Higher Education Conference, Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, kickstarted his presentation...
Flying in Formation: the National Plan for Post-School Education and Training
The university as a "national asset" During his keynote address at the opening of Universities South Africa's (USAf) conference, Minister Blade Nzimande had made...
Universities must research underlying causes of the social ills crippling South Africa
Universities must do what they do best: that is, conduct research in critical challenges facing South Africa, as they carve their way into the future,...
Universities South Africa on a path to Reinventing South Africa’s Universities of the Future
Registration is now open for the first-ever National Higher Education Conference, organised by Universities South Africa from the 2nd to the 4th of October, 2019. The...
The National Higher Education Conference was a resounding success, says Professor Ahmed C Bawa
Universities South Africa’s first National Higher Education Conference concluded successfully on 4 October, 2019, at the CSIR’s International Convention Centre in Pretoria. The...
A UCT student aims to use 3D printers to level the education playing fields in South Africa
Denislav Marinov (21), a third-year BSc physics and chemistry student at the University of Cape Town (UCT), plans on using 3D printers in South Africa's...
He invented a pair of soccer boots, leading to the creation of Disktjie, a promising business
Dusty fields and gravel grounds punctuated by youngsters kicking ball are common sights in South Africa's townships. For many people this is just about the...
He aims to create employment while solving problems and is achieving exactly that
The Winner of the Student Entrepreneur of 2019 Award, who also won in the Existing Social Impact Business Category (Category 3) of the Entrepreneurship Intervarsity...
Call by Vice-Chancellors for a meeting with the President of South Africa
The Vice-Chancellors of all 26 public universities are calling for an urgent meeting with the President of South Africa, to register their anger at the scourge...
Universities must act in concert against gender based violence — among other social ills plaguing South Africa
Universities South Africa (USAf), together with all its member institutions, is deeply distressed by news of the gruesome death of a young woman and student at...
Empathy drove him to develop a used books selling platform, founding the business he named Quillo
Tamir Shklaz (22) is a fourth-year electrical and computer engineering student at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Like many students, he has had to...
UFS microbiologists solve brewing problems for South Africa and the world
At the Entrepreneurial Intervarsity Competition finals of 19 September, 2019, a 31-year-old old doctoral candidate at the University of the Free State, Christopher Rothmann, walked...
They are dispelling the belief that friendship and business do not mix
Much against the common belief that doing business with family or friends is a recipe for failure, Penang Shirindza and his childhood friend, Dean Mokoena,...
Scholarly Presses in South Africa; how sustainable are they?
Late during 2018, the CEO of Universities South Africa commissioned a study of South Africa’s scholarly presses. The purpose was to generate an understanding on...
“You are not alone,” academic leaders learned at last week’s HELM event in Pretoria
They had come from all four cardinal points of South Africa: the north, south, east and west -- and also the centre. Each individual brought with...
The USAf Board ponders the next five-year strategic framework
Scenarios thinking took centre stage at Universities South Africa’s Annual Workshop of the Board of Directors on 19 June, as the Board began to contemplate USAf’s...
The Board confirms appointment of two new members
At the Annual General Meeting of USAf, the Chairperson, Professor Thandwa Mthembu, confirmed the appointment to the Board of Directors, of, namely, Dr Bernard Nthambeleni, newly-appointed...
NRF Policy for Postgraduate Student Funding: Enhancing Equity of Postgraduate Student Access, Success and Throughput
The National Research Foundation (NRF) has developed a new Postgraduate Student Funding Policy that will use postgraduate student funding as a lever to address the challenges...
DHET introduces a Future Professors Programme to accelerate movement of senior researchers to professorships
On 20 June, 2019, Professor Jonathan Jansen, Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and President of the Academy of Science of South Africa, attended the...
The Board formerly approves USAf’s Financial Report
Following the presentation of: USAf’s detailed Business Continuity Plan; Revised Risks Register; and USAf’s Financial Report for the period ending 31 May 2019, The Board commended...
The Board mandates the USAf Office to take action on accreditation delays
The Board mandated the USAf Office to write a letter to three state agencies responsible for approval, accreditation and registration of new or revised academic programmes,...
Potential cable vandalism a perpetual threat to UL’s internet connectivity
The increase in internet speed at the University of Limpopo (UL) from 30 megabits per second (Mbps) to 150 Mbps brought about major improvements in internet...
University of Limpopo is managing applications and admissions with great efficiencies – thanks to effective internet connectivity
The University of Limpopo (UL) introduced online applications only in 2016, four years after internet speed on the main campus was given a boost from 30...
Rural Campuses Connection Project increases teaching, learning and research potential at remote university campuses
In October 2010, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) gave Universities SA’s predecessor, Higher Education South Africa (HESA) a grant of R28 million in...
4th SAJU Forum Conference 2019 — Full report
The South Africa-Japan University (SAJU) Forum was established to serve as a platform and structured frameworkfor collaboration between the higher education institutions of the two countries....
Romanian universities knock on USAf’s door for collaboration with SA universities
On Monday, 15 April, Universities SA (USAf) hosted a five-person delegation from Romania to hold introductory talks exploring renewing relations between universities in Romania and those...
It is all about the kind of university we want for the kind of society we want
The presentation by Professor Peter Maassen, Professor of Higher Education at the University of Oslo, on the role of universities in society provided an international...
There are many ways of remaking a university but they all relate to the society in which it exists
Perhaps the topic was complex; or we could put it down to the panellists' need to talk about all aspects of transformation; but the session...
Learning through doing is the gold standard
Mr Gideon Potgieter proudly began his presentation with a picture of a beaming young man standing in front of a row of computer numeric controlled...
Involve students more in higher education deliberations and re-consider your staffing strategies, says Naledi Pandor
Universities need to consider inviting and involving students more in their deliberations on higher education issues, according to the Minister of Higher Education and Training,...
Research must be introduced to students at 1st year undergraduate study level, University of Johannesburg professors argue
Universities tend to talk of research as though it only starts at graduate level and this is a big mistake, says the University of Johannesburg’s...
Dedicated funding for post-doctoral fellowships may resolve the challenge of early career researchers for South Africa
Creating a system of dedicated funding for post-doctoral fellows within South Africa’s university system seems to hold one solution to the challenge of early career...
The USAf-ACU symposium in a nutshell
“Disrupt the system,” “flip the model”, “change the rules” – these were just some of the provocative statements heard at a recent symposium on developing...
Symposium on Developing the Capacity of Early Career Researchers, March 2019
From 18-19 March, 2019, 20 of South Africa’s 26 public universities converged on the University of Johannesburg grounds to delve deeper into the conversation about...
Universities agree to work more collaboratively for optimum and lasting impact concerning early career academics
At the USAf-ACU (Universities SA–Association of Commonwealth Universities) symposium of 18-19 March, delegates generally agreed on the need for a more collaborative, eco-systemic approach to...
USAf Board welcomes feedback on NSFAS progress at their March sitting
At their first sitting for 2019 in March, the Universities South Africa (USAf) Board of Directors invited Dr Randall Carolissen, Executive Administrator at National Student Financial...
COPAL’s meeting at Fort Hare’s East London campus completes successfully — 13 March 2019
The Community of Practice for African Languages (COPAL) held its first meeting of the year at the University of Fort Hare campus in East London. The...
A R3,4 million grant allocated to bolster doctoral training for SA universities
Through a partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the British Council has announced R3,4m funding to 20 higher education partnerships focused on...
Prof Ahmed Bawa on The View Point with (SAFM)’s Ashraf Garda, 7 March, 2019
On Thursday, 7 March, 2019, Ashraf Garda of SAFM’s The View Point (20:00-22:00) hosted Professor Ahmed Bawa, USAf’s CEO. The hour-long discussion, which included listeners’ comments...
Prof Ahmed Bawa on Democracy Gauge (SABC 3), 05 March 2019
On Wednesday, 5 March, 2019, Bongani Bingwa, the host of a SABC 3’s new programme, Democracy Gauge (week days 17:30-18:30), invited Prof Ahmed Bawa, USAf’s CEO,...
Why emerging researchers need to be supported
At the Universities SA-Association of Commonwealth Universities (USAf-ACU) symposium on developing the capacity of early career researchers held in March, presenters made a compelling case...
Technical Mathematics dominates discussions at USAf’s Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics
The Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (TLM CoP) held the first of its quarterly meetings for 2019, at the University...
Towards becoming an entrepreneurial university – lessons from the Durban University of Technology
Although the Durban University of Technology (DUT) is naturally predisposed to produce innovators, it took creating a central home for entrepreneurship to get the institution...
DVCs embrace their role as drivers of entrepreneurship, if backed by strategy, resources and matching infrastructure
They were a group of 35 senior management leaders comprising, in the main, deputy vice-chancellors, executive deans and executive directors. The group, drawn from 19...
Entrepreneurship development needs a national policy push to succeed at public universities
Even though entrepreneurship is increasingly being accepted among university students as an engine of economic growth and possible career choice, entrepreneurship development is taking place...
Board News from 24 October 2018
At the USAf Board of Directors’ last 2018 meeting on 24 October, new decisions ranged from endorsing new members to USAf structures to approving the 2019...
2019 priorities of all strategy groups approved
The Board approved the 2019 priorities of all strategy groups and the renewal of all membership terms due to expire on 31 December 2018. New changes...
Decisions concerning USAf’s governance structures
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Committee: The USAf Board endorsed a recommendation from this Committee, that a high-level meeting be secured with the Minister of Higher...
USAf Board welcomes the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme
The Board of Directors also welcomed absorption into USAf, of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Programme, which was established in the Department of Higher...
USAf Programme Updates
A. Higher Education Leadership Programme The Board heard that HELM got off to a good start in 2018, thanks to funding secured from the Department of...
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE AND THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY: Perspectives on the Future of Higher Education in South Africa
In a keynote address delivered at the Stadio Holdings 2018 Academic Conference in Pretoria on 15 October, Prof Barney Pityana laments the current open contestations about...
USAf’s fast internet initiative transforms teaching and learning in a small town
Danwill Maans is such an enthusiastic and determined student that it is heart-warming to know that, although he is not based in a major city, he...
Commonwealth Scholarship recipients for 2018 gearing up to depart
On behalf of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, every spring, Universities South Africa (USAf), in collaboration with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the...
Prof Duma Malaza’s Inaugural speech
“We aim to shape a future that is robust, sustainable and empowering,” Prof Duma Malaza said at his inauguration on 20 August, 2018. “In an increasingly...
Universities SA plans to investigate gender imbalance at top
In an article published in the University World News of 22 August, USAf announces its intention to investigate why women are struggling to break through the...
New Social Compact Between Society and Higher Education
In an opinion piece published in the City Press on Sunday, 19 August, Prof Ahmed Bawa and Prof Thandwa Mthembu invite South Africa’s society to a...
Decoding Madiba’s M-Plan and block chain technology
In this article, published in the Sunday Independent on 29 July, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala celebrates the Nelson Mandela centenary from an information and communication technology (ICT)...
USAf Board takes a long-term view of the PSET sector
The Board of Directors of Universities South Africa (USAf) has decided to take a multipronged, long-term view of South Africa’s post-school education and training (PSET) sector,...
Audited financial statements approved
Among other major decisions emerging from the 2018 AGM, the Board accepted annual financial statements as audited for the USAf Group (including those of the Committee...
Potential impact of private higher education provision
Taking into consideration the growth of private higher education provision in South Africa, the USAf Board adopted the view that it could be of value for...
Student matters
Tuition fees for 2019: Agreeing that determining an acceptable tuition fee increase for 2019 was urgent, the Board tasked the Funding Strategy Group (FSG) to urgently...
National skills development
The Board decided that USAf, through the Future of Work Strategy Group (which is in the process of being formed), should seek a meeting with the...
Emerging researchers/silent majority study findings
The 2017 study on emerging researchers and the silent majority (the large number of early career academics at lecturer and senior lecturer level who are not...
New Board members welcomed
The USAf Chairperson, Professor Thandwa Mthembu, welcomed three new members of the Board. From left, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg...
Members re-appointed to the Admissions Committee
The Board approved the re-appointment to the Admissions Committee of the following members, for the period 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020: Prof C Foxcroft...
Draft Policy Framework on Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa
The Board noted that the public commentary process in respect of this policy was at an advanced stage and that it looked forward to the finalisation...
Common Campaign Days
The Board approved the recommendation to dedicate the month of August to a Common Campaign Days event, themed “Social inclusion and wellbeing”. The 2018 theme is...
Higher Education Gender-based Violence Policy and Strategy Framework
Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, Chief Executive Officer of the Higher Education and Training Health, Wellness and Development Centre, presented the draft policy and strategic framework for higher...
Dr Max Price bids peers goodbye
The second ordinary meeting of the Board for 2018 was also an occasion to bid farewell to Dr Max Price, who, on account of vacating the...
Why engagement with their contexts should be at the heart of what universities do – USAf CEO, Prof Ahmed Bawa
This story is based on a USAf-commissioned interview on a June 18 interview between Ms Gillian Anstey, an independent writer, and Prof AC Bawa.Read more..
Prof AC Bawa chats about his childhood, his varsity life and why SA universities need to reimagine themselves
On 13 June 2018, the Chief Executive Officer of Universities SA (USAf), Prof Ahmed Bawa, was the subject of freelance writer Nicholas Claude’s weekly podcast, Voices...
Reconceptualising Health Professions Education in South Africa
As a response to the continuing shortages of healthcare professionals, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) undertook a study to investigate the full value...
Highlights from the Research & Innovation Dialogue 2018, 31 May – 1 June
The 6th Research and Innovation Dialogue of Universities South Africa (USAf), held at the Emperors’ Palace from 31 May to 1 June, attracted up to 80...
USAf’s CoPAL pays tribute to the late Prof Gregory Kamwendo
On 22 May, 2018, a highly-esteemed sociolinguistics academic, Professor Gregory Kamwendo, was shot dead outside his Empangeni home in KwaZulu Natal. At their 14 June meeting...
Senior ICT undergraduates are invited to apply for a two-week ICT training in China
The Huawei Seeds for the Future programme offers undergraduate students (3rd or 4th year students) in ICT a two week training and cultural experience in China....
Exploring a Work-Based Values Approach in South African TVET Colleges to Improve Employability of Youth – a literature review
Notwithstanding the much expanded access to South Africa’s tertiary education in the past decade, youth employability remains a national concern. Technical and Vocational Education and Training...
Research and Innovation Dialogue 2018
The 6th Research and Innovation Dialogue of Universities South Africa (USAf), held at the Emperors’ Palace from 31 May to 1 June, turned out to be...
Initiatives in Higher Education to drive the development of Entrepreneurship among South African graduates
In this article, an independent author, Camilla Pennington, takes a look at initiatives in Higher Education to drive the development of entrepreneurship among South African graduates....
Universities SA’s support message to Nelson Mandela University, on the inauguration on 17 April, 2018, of new Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor
The appointment by Nelson Mandela University (NMU) of Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi as Chancellor and Professor Sibongile Muthwa as Vice-Chancellor bodes well for taking this university to even...
Do universities suffer from having too many masters?
This article is based on a paper that Prof Ahmed Bawa, USAf’s CEO, presented at the Going Global conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the first...
Racism in a digital age
On Wednesday, 2 May 2018, the Nelson Mandela Foundation hosted a panel discussion titled: Racism in a digital age, in which Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice-Chancellor at...
Inauguration of Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor at Nelson Mandela University
It was a momentous occasion on 17 April, 2018, when Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi was officially inaugurated Chancellor of the Nelson Mandela University and Prof Sibongile Muthwa...
Funding matters pre-dominate USAf Board discussions at first sitting for 2018
Concerns over financial stability of the public university sector once again dominated debates at the first ordinary sitting of the Board of Universities SA on 20...
The Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG)
The Rural Campuses Connectivity Project (RCCP) The RISG would continue to oversee the RCCP, whose objective it is to provide access circuits to connect rurally-based university...
Progress on some priority projects for 2018
The projects discussed below represent only a fraction of what strategy groups reported on at the Board meeting. Only those against which concrete milestones have been...
The Transformation Strategy Group
In line with the Board’s decision of October 2017 to add two new focus areas to the work of the Transformation Strategy Group, the TSG will,...
Other Board decisions of 20 March
Entrepreneurship programme within universities This programme, a brainchild of the DHET, was conceptualised with the strategic purpose of a) building a culture of entrepreneurship on our...
The Teaching and Learning Strategy Group (TLSG)
Optimisation of educational technology on campuses As part of a strategic intent to promote usage of educational technology especially off campus, the TSLG undertook a survey...
New Board members welcomed
The Board welcomed Prof Sibongile Muthwa into their midst, following her assumption of the Vice-Chancellorship at Nelson Mandela University as of 1 January 2018. Prof Sibongile...
Universities SA supporting the 2018 South African Women in Science Awards
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) calls for nominations for the 2018 South African Women in Science Awards (WISA). The awards recognise and reward excellence...
What we’re learning about our university students
The three-part series of publications titled Understanding Students -- published in March, October and November, 2018, shares findings from a set of surveys of students,...
USAf and ASSAf letter to the City Press
On 22 March, 2018, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), in partnership with Universities SA, released a letter to the City Press in response...
Policy development and sustainability of higher education are top priorities of USAf’s new Chair
Professor Thandwa Mthembu’s appointment, announced on January 3, 2018, is sandwiched between two presidential announcements, and is then followed by the budget speech. This could be...
Are South African universities under assault?
In an article published in the Daily Maverick on 1 March, 2018, Professor Habib draws attention to the challenges facing the higher education sector and the...
Higher Education Funding Workshop
Universities South Africa (USAf) convened a Higher Education Funding Workshop which was joined by higher education specialists from the World Bank to look at how...
Management of Higher Education Institutions: The Role of Ethics in Service Excellence.
“The role of ethics in Service Excellence is about upholding the principles of fairness, social justice, anti-corruption, accountability, transparency, decisiveness, and honesty,” Prof Gordon Zide, said...
DUT: Transforming, Upscaling and Developing
“The past is past. The present is about to pass. We need not regurgitate or relive them,” were Prof Thandwa Mthembu’s words, in addressing the decolonisation...
Re-imagining the Social Purpose of Universities through Engagement
In this paper (published in 2017 in a Council of Europe publication titled Higher Education for Diversity, Social Inclusion and Community: a Democratic Imperative), Prof AC...
CEO Speeches
Prof Ahmed Bawa receives a Transformative Leadership Award from the Netter Centre of the University of Pennsylvania Universities SA’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Ahmed Bawa, was...
2018 Letter to All University Students
As teaching and learning get underway at all our 26 public universities, the Chief Executive Officer for the Higher Education and Training Health Wellness & Development...
Is new plan to help poor students reconciliation or political expediency?
In response to the Presidential declaration of free education on 16 December, 2017, Prof Ahmed Bawa, the USAf Chief Executive Officer, expressed an opinion. Read more..
Let’s be honest about free education
An independent author, Songezo Zibi, analyses the practicalities of implementing higher education in South Africa. Read more...
DHET FAQs on expanded NSFAS and bursary scheme
The Department of Higher Education and Training has published a list of frequent questions emerging since the free education declaration was made. It responds to...
Commonwealth Scholarships
Universities South Africa (USAf) is the Nominating Agency for South African citizens who wish to apply for the Commonwealth Scholarships tenable in the UK for the...
Reconstituting institutional culture by focusing on the design of the universities around our students and around their more intensive engagement with their local and regional contexts:
There is a growing view that the TSG ought to be more engaged in the project of helping the sector to give effect to institutional...
Transformation Strategy Group
Implementation in 2018 of the transformation barometer in public universities: the Transformation Barometer is essentially a self-monitoring and reporting tool that enables institutions to set...
The Rural Campuses Connectivity Project (RCCP)
The RCCP was established to improve broadband connectivity of priority rural university campuses to the South African National Research Network (SANReN). RCCP is managed by Universities...
Study on Emerging Researchers:
There is deep concern about the fact that many young scholars who have graduated with doctorates are not developing into NRF-rated researchers. There is a strong...
Research and Innovation Strategy Group
National Site Licence for Journals: One of USAf’s signature projects in 2018 will be the move towards a national site licence for journals. First calculations indicate...
Curriculum transformation:
At its first meeting of the year in 2016, the TLSG identified curriculum transformation as a strategic issue for discussion. Under the theme: “Curriculum transformation in...
Teaching and learning technologies:
It was reported at the TLSG meeting on 30 May 2017 that there is a significant move by publishers towards the development of custom digital publications,...
Teaching and Learning Strategy Group
Enhancing the student experience at public universities: Following an indication by the TLSG, that enhancing students’ learning experiences was not receiving adequate attention through the Quality...
Projects of Strategy Groups
Funding Strategy Group The study to determine the appropriate level of funding of South Africa’s higher education sector: This study will take into account what...
Study to determine the Impact of Universities on Local and National Economies:
The concept paper in this regard was prepared during late 2016 and the project was duly scoped. The Office of the USAf CEO is making all...
The Protection of Personal Information (POPIA) Act
This Act is expected to come into force in mid-2018. Universities and other entities will be required to become compliant within 12 months of the Act...
Projects of the National Directorate (The CEO’s Office)
Insourcing or Sustainable Sourcing of Services:Universities have since 2015 been either implementing and / or considering different models of insourcing or what we now refer to...
The 2018 Operational Plan
The Board approved the USAf Operational Plan for 2018, which lays out priority projects of strategy groups as well as transversal projects co-ordinated by the office...
Universities must prepare themselves for the future
Beginning at this year’s USAf Board Workshop in June, a number of important explorations were put in place to understand how the university sector may respond...
Recognising outgoing members and welcoming new ones
The USAf Board congratulated Dr Sibongile Muthwa on her appointment as the new Vice-Chancellor-designate of Nelson Mandela University (NMU). Dr Muthwa will assume her position as...
USAF Board welcomes Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize and Deputy Minister Buti Manamela
At the last sitting for 2017 on 18 October, the Board of USAf welcomed the appointment of the new higher education and training minister, Minister Hlengiwe...
Challenges from the re-absorption of outsourced services call for increased introspection and information sharing for the sustainability of universities
As universities consider and adopt the different approaches to insourcing in response to union and student demands and also for delivery of social justice, it...
USAf exploring the establishment of a new strategy group
As part of seeking to understand how the university sector may respond to big changes taking place in the higher education environment, both locally and...
Introduction
This page represents Universities SA’s attempt to share documents of sector-wide relevance, generated by like-minded and organisations in the sector and beyond. The titles, which acknowledge...
Introduction
The biennial Research & Innovation conference was conceptualised by USAf’s Research and Innovation Strategy Group (RISG) in 2010. The initial event, held from 11-12 March 2010, was themed ‘Strengthening...
SAHRC Report_Transformation in Public Universities in South Africa
Pre-1994, institutions of higher learning, as with all other institutions of learning, were formally divided along racial and language groups. As noted by Universities South...
South African and Japanese universities re-launch a collaboration pact in Tokyo
A large delegation from South Africa’s higher education sector will represent the country in the re-launch in Tokyo, of the South Africa-Japan Universities (SAJU) Forum. The...
USAf submission of the draft policy framework for the International of Higher Education in South Africa
After years of dialogue in this regard, USAf welcomed the draft policy framework published on 28 April 2017 for the Internationalisation of Higher Education in...
Comment on the Draft Policy Framework on Open Learning and Distance Education:Universities of South Africa(May 2017)
In response to a draft Open Learning Policy Framework for Post-School Education and Training published in a Government Gazette dated 7 April 2017, USAf presented...
The Effect of Campus Shutdown on Learning
When violent protests at public universities shut down teaching and learning, students become the biggest losers, as told in anecdotes from especially undergraduate students from Gauteng-based institutions. Their identities are withheld to protect them from victimisation.
Important Notice
It has come to our attention that a website unknown to Universities South Africa (http://saadmissions.com/) is using our corporate identity to promote information on SA universities...
Students must draw lessons from the late Ahmed Kathrada
At the time when there is so much concern about what is going on at our public universities , students would do well to take lessons from the life of the late stalwart and political activist, Ahmed Kathrada. of the late stalwart and political activist, Ahmed Kathrada.
DHET_2000 to 2014_ First Time Entering Undergraduate Cohort Studies for Public HEIs (final)
During the period 1986 to 1998 the former Department of Education collected data on student enrolments, graduates and full time equivalents from the public higher...
DHET_ 2015_Statistics on Post-School Education and Training in South Africa.
a) In 2015, the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) system comprised 26 public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)...
PA Workshop
USAf hosted its annual workshop for Personal Assistants/Executive Secretaries in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor on 8 – 9 December 2016 in Franschoek, Cape Town. ...
#FeesMustFall : The Consequences of Disruptions
Although students have a constitutional right to protest against rising university tuition fees, it gets gravely concerning when protests disrupt teaching and learning, thus frustrating the...
#FeesMustFall2: Are we a Violent Society?
Student protests at South Africa’s public universities have become increasingly violent. Academics are pondering the root cause of this phenomenon. Are violent students mirroring a violent...
Comments on the National Qualifications Amendment Bill 2016 (Jan 2017)
USAf surmises that the primary purpose of this draft Bill is to name and shame people who use bogus qualifications or claim qualifications they do...
SAJU set to promote prosperity and sustainable development in SA, and Africa
Collaboration between South Africa and Japanese universities should become a catalyst for sustainable development in South Africa and the African continent. It will also play an...
What the Commonwealth Scholarship means to the 2016 awardees
The 2016 Class of new South Africa’s scholars awarded Commonwealth Scholarships for 2016 enrolled from September to October, on a range of Masters and Doctoral studies...
The 2016 cohort of Commonwealth Scholars have settled in the UK
The 2016 Commonwealth Scholarship awardees, accepted to enrol from September/ October 2016 in post-graduate studies at various institutions in the United Kingdom, are young, vibrant, and...
Guiding Framework for Universities on Reintegrating and/or Managing Currently Outsourced Operations
Following the FeesMustFall uprising in October 2015, and the students’ and workers’ demand to universities to re-absorb the outsourced catering, cleaning, gardening and security services...
The Mathematics Teaching & Learning CoP gets off to a busy start
The newly-established Community of Practice for the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics came to a consensus on 31 August, that that there is a mismatch...
A Call for 2017 Applications for Commonwealth Scholarships
Universities South Africa administers a selection of scholarships schemes on behalf of governments, multi-lateral and private sector organisations, primarily for post-graduate study. Calls for applications are...
2016_USAf_Response to NRF Amendment Bill 2015
2016_USAf_Response-to-NRF-Amendment-Bill-2015.pdf
Universities SA Statement on the outcome of the consultative meeting between Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr BE Nzimande and the Boards of USAf and UCCF
Following a joint consultative meeting on 12 August, 2016, between the Minister of Higher Education and Training and the Boards of Universities South Africa (USAf) and Universities Chairs of Council Forum (UCCF), the outcome was published on 14 August 2016.
2016_USAf_Response to NQF_Articulation Policy_May 2016
2016_USAf_Response-to-NQF_Articulation-Policy_May-2016.pdf
Black Researchers constitute only a third of DST development candidates
Speaking to the topic of Transformation and Human Capital Development in Universities, the Chief Director: Human Capital and Science Promotion in the Department of Science and...
Research & Innovation is central to performance on Sustainable Development Goals
The two-day Research & Innovation Conference on 7 and 8 April 2016 established that research and innovation is a key determinant in performance on the UN’s...
2016 USAf Research & Innovation Dialogue Report
USAf hosted the 4th Biennial Research and Innovation Dialogue with the theme ‘Levering Research and Innovation for South Africa’s Prosperity’. The Dialogue assisted to put...
2016_USAf_Submission on the Higher Education Amendment Bill_Feb 2016
2016_USAf_Submission-on-the-Higher-Education-Amendmnt-Bill_Feb-2016.pdf
CHE_2015_VitalStats_Public Higher Education
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) is an independent statutory body established by the Higher Education Act, no. 101 of 1997 (amended). The CHE is...
Consumer Protection Act Guidelines for Universities
The Consumer Protection Act, 2008, (CPA), which came into force on 1 April 2011, governs all transactions and interactions with consumers for the provision of...
2015_USAf_ Commentary on Draft Online Regulation Policy
2015_USAf_-Commentary-on-Draft-Online-Regulation-Policy.pdf
2015_USAf_Commentary on Draft National Liquor Policy_Aug 2015
2015_USAf_Commentary-on-Draft-National-Liquor-Policy_Aug-2015.pdf
2015_HESA_Commentary on Curriculum Statements NSC Adults
2015_HESA_Commentary-on-Curriculum-Statements-NSC-Adults.pdf
Rural Campuses Connection Project (RCCP)
The Rural Campuses Connection Project (RCCP) was undertaken to provide high-bandwidth connections for rural university campuses to the South African National Research Network (SANReN). The...
Congratulatory message on the installation of the Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor
On behalf of Higher Education South Africa (HESA), an association of universities which represents, and advocates for the interests of the 26 public Higher Education Institutions in our country, I wish to express my gratitude for the invitation to this important ceremony of inauguration and investiture of Dr Sizwe Mabizela as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.Similarly, I would like to extend a warm and personal welcome to Dr Sizwe Mabizela as one of the most recent Vice-Chancellors to join this association. We are indeed delighted to have you as a member of the HESA collective.
2015_HESA_Review of Draft Amendment Regulations for Registration of Private HEIs
2015_HESA_Review-of-Draft-Amendment-Regulations-for-Registration-of-Private-HEIs.pdf
Remuneration Study JM MG
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Study on Remuneration of Academics in South Africa’s universities
This study, driven by wide perceptions that academic careers were less financially rewarding than those in the public and private sectors, sought to compare the...
2014_HESA_Commentary on draft Policy Framework on Differentiation in the SA Post School System
2014_HESA_Commentary-on-draft-Policy-Framework-on-Differentiation-in-the-SA-Post-School-System.pdf
Higher Education Price Index (HEPI)
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a mechanism by which price inflation or deflation on various commodities, products and services is determined. In the process of...
2014_HESA_Submission on NQF Policy Framework_August 2014
2014_HESA_Submission on NQF Policy Framework_August 2014
The Value of Designated Subjects in Terms of Likely Student Success in Higher Education
This study was a continuation of an investigation started in 2011, into the claim that a certain set of subjects offered at high school (the ‘designated’...
2014_HESA_Commentary on draft Employment Regulations 2014
2014_HESA_Commentary-on-draft-Employment-Regulations-2014.pdf
Revisiting ‘Co-operative Governance’ in Higher Education A Discussion Document
This discussion document is the result of a literature review commissioned by the Board of Directors of Higher Education South Africa (HESA) in 2013. The primary...
2014_HESA_Response to Electronic Services Regulations
2014_HESA_Response-to-Electronic-Services-Regulations.pdf
HESA Response to Council of Higher Education on Undergraduate Curriculum Structure
In August 2013, the Council of Higher Education (CHE) released the report of its task team on undergraduate curriculum reform for comment. The CHE requested feedback from individual institutions, which will be used to inform its advise to the Minister of Higher Education and Training on the desirability and implementation of an extended curriculum structure to bring undergraduate curriculum reform.
2013_HESA_Response to the CHE Undergraduate Curriculum Structure_Dec 2013
2013_HESA_Response-to-the-CHE-Undergraduate-Curriculum-Structure_Dec-2013.pdf
HESA Presentation Belgian Speaking Universities
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Address at ETDP-SETA event -Annual General Meeting
Message of Support delivered by the CEO of HESA, Dr Jeffrey Mabelebele, on the occasion of Annual General Meeting of ETDP-SETA held on 21 October...
Address at HELM Lead workshop
Why Governance, Leadership, and Management in Higher Education matter? An opening address to be delivered by the CEO of HESA, Dr. Jeffrey Mabelebele, on the...
UL The contribution of Higher Education to society
Keynote address to be delivered at the University of Limpopo on the Occasion of Faculty of Humanities’ Spring Lectures 2013 themed “South Africa Today: Issues,...
UL The contribution of Higher Education to society_10_September_2013
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Remarks for the Dinner Event to Launch the HEAIDS
Dr Jeffrey Mabelebele, Chief Executive Officer Higher Education South Africa (HESA). Good evening to you all! Let me start off by acknowledging the presence in...
CAO AGM Address
The Higher Education Policy Issues in2013: Implications for the Central Application Office, Kwazulu Natal Click here to download >
CAO AGM Address 21 August 2013 JM final
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What are universities for Public Lecture Univen JM
Public Lecture delivered at the University of Venda, University Senate Chambers, Thohoyandou, South Africa Dr Jeffrey Mabelebele, Chief Executive Officer Higher Education South Africa (HESA)....
Seminar on Frantz Fanon
Are Frantz Fanon’s ideas still relevant to a post-apartheid South Africa? A critical reflection A paper to be delivered at a seminar to be held...
Possible Partnership between Higher Education South Africa; South African Publishers Association and South African Booksellers Association: Some thoughts
Possible Partnership between Higher Education South Africa; South African Publishers Association and South African Booksellers Association: Some thoughts A paper delivered at a joint PASA-SABA...
PASA and SABA Input
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PASA and SABA Input
Possible Partnership between Higher Education South Africa; South African Publishers Association and South African Booksellers Association: Some thoughts A paper delivered at a joint PASA-SABA...
What are universities for Public Lecture Univen JM August 2013 final
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2013_HESA_Response to Regulations on Establishment of NIHSS_July 2013
2013_HESA_Response-to-Regulations-on-Establishment-of-NIHSS_July-2013.pdf
Keynote Address Public Lecture Series 05 July 2013 Prof Michael Young
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Opening Remarks Public Lecture Series 05 July 2013 Dr Jeffrey Mabelebele
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HESA Comments on Policy on Student Housing
Despite a variety of comments on specific aspects of the proposed policy and the associated norms and standards, HESA wishes to express its strong support for a policy and norms andstandards for student housing. HESA believes that this long overdue policy intervention by the Minister of Higher Education and Training and his Department, will play a significant role in improving the quality of support for teaching and learning at universities and should, in the longer run, have a positive effect on student throughput rates.
2013_HESA_Commentary on Policy on Student Housing_June 2013
2013_HESA_Commentary-on-Policy-on-Student-Housing_June-2013.pdf
2013_HESA_Response to Task Team Report on Community Education and Training Centres_May 2013
2013_HESA_Response-to-Task-Team-Report-on-Community-Education-and-Training-Centres_May-2013.pdf
The UJ Institutional Culture Survey 2012_A Transformation Barometer
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Transformation Colloquium OPENING REMARKS May 2013 JM
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The Role of Internationalisation in Higher Education Transformation Colloquium_ Kaunda
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2013_HESA_Inputs to Offices of Technology Transfer Framework
2013_HESA_Inputs-to-Offices-of-Technology-Transfer-Framework.pdf
2013_HESA_Response to Guidelines for Reporting Regulations_Feb 2013
2013_HESA_Response-to-Guidelines-for-Reporting-Regulations_Feb-2013.pdf
2013_HESA_Commentary on Amended version of the Policy and Procedures for Measurement
2013_HESA_Commentary-on-Amended-version-of-the-Policy-and-Procedures-for-Measurement.pdf
2012 HESA Response to National Development Plan May
2012_HESA_Response-to-National-Development-Plan_-May.pdf
2012_HESA_Response to RPL policy and criteria November
2012_HESA_Response-to-RPL-policy-and-criteria-November.pdf
2012_HESA_Analysis of Assessor Reports of Universities in SA_Oct
2012_HESA_Analysis-of-Assessor-Reports-of-Universities-in-SA_Oct.pdf
2012_HESA_Position-on-HETraining-Laws-Amendment-Bill_Oct
2012_HESA_Position-on-HETraining-Laws-Amendment-Bill_Oct.pdf
2012_HESA_Response to the DST Ministerial Review of the STI Landscape_ July
2012_HESA_Response-to-the-DST-Ministerial-Review-of-the-STI-Landscape_-July.pdf
2012 HESA Response to Policy Framework Provision of Distance Education by SA universities July
2012_HESA_Response-to-Policy-Framework_Provision-of-Distance-Education-by-SA-universities_July.pdf
2012_HESA_Differentiation Framework 2012
2012_HESA_Differentiation-Framework-2012.pdf
2012_HESA_Commentary on Revised B-BBEE Codes_Dec
2012_HESA_Commentary-on-Revised-B-BBEE-Codes_Dec.pdf
2012_HESA_Response-to-Green-Paper-for-PSET
2012_HESA_Response-to-Green-Paper-for-PSET.pdf
Promoting Higher Education – Industry Partnerships and Collaborations
The global demand for greater social accountability, responsiveness and relevance on the part of higher education has manifest in an emphasis on universities’ contribution to the...
2012 HESA Research & Innovation Conference Report
The global demand for greater social accountability, responsiveness and relevance on the part of higher education manifests as an emphasis on universities’ contribution to the...
2012_HESA Response to Qualification Stds in HE March
2012_HESA_Response-to-Qualification-Stds-in-HE_March.pdf
2012_HESA_Infrastructure and Equipment Study in HE_A Report
2012_HESA_Infrastructure-and-Equipment-Study-in-HE_A-Report.pdf
2012_HESA_Position-on-Protection-of-State-Information-Bill
2012_HESA_Position-on-Protection-of-State-Information-Bill
2012_Report to HESA Board of Directors_Jan-May 2012
2012_Report-to-HESA-Board-of-Directors_Jan-May-2012.pdf
2011_HESA_Review of HE Funding_ Report to the Ministerial Review_Oct 2011
2011_HESA_Review-of-HE-Funding_-Report-to-the-Ministerial-Review_Oct-2011.pdf
2011_HESA_Promoting Joint Use of Research Equipment_July
2011_HESA_Promoting-Joint-Use-of-Research-Equipment_July.pdf
2011_HESA_Progress Report to HESA Board
2011_HESA_Progress-Report-to-HESA-Board.pdf
2010_HESA_Good Governance of Senior Staff Remuneration in HE_Final Response
HESA_Good-Governance-of-Senior-Staff-Remuneration-in-HE_Final-Response.pdf
2010_HESA_Final Response to NSFAS Review Proposals_May
2010_HESA_Final-Response-to-NSFAS-Review-Proposals_May.pdf
2010_HESA_Tuition fees setting Guidelines-March 2010
2010_HESA_Tuition-fees-setting-Guidelines-March-2010.pdf
2010_HESA_Research & Innovation Conference Report
It is in this consideration that Higher Education South Africa (HESA) hosted the Research and Innovation Conference on 11-12 March 2010, at the CSIR International...
2010_HESA_Position Paper on Transformation (Soudien Report)
2010_HESA_Position-Paper-on-Transformation-Soudien-Report.pdf
2009_HESA_Input on NSFAS Review_Aug 09
2009_HESA_Input-on-NSFAS-Review_Aug-09.pdf
2009_HESA_Third Stream Funding_Report_July 09
2009_HESA_Third-Stream-Funding_Report_July-09.pdf
2008_HESA_Tuition Fees in HE_Final Report
2008_HESA_Tuition-Fees-in-HE_Final-Report.pdf
2007_HESA_Report on CESM Overview_Commentary
2007_HESA_Report-on-CESM-Overview_Commentary.pdf
2007_HESA_Report on Intellectual Property Rights from PFR Bill
2007_HESA_Report-on-Intellectual-Property-Rights-from-PFR-Bill.pdf
2006_HESA_Guidelines for Management, Management & Disclosure of Remuneration in HE_Final Response
2006_HESA_Guidelines-for-Management-Management-Disclosure-of-Remuneration-in-HE_Final-Response.pdf
2006_HESA_Good Governance in Remuneration_Final Report
2006_HESA_Good-Governance-in-Remuneration_Final-Report.pdf