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Engagement and Transformation
The Engagement and Transformation Portfolio
Co-creating the transformative, responsive university.
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Engagement
Engaging and forming partnerships, interacting with stakeholders and reaching out and contributing towards the sustainable development of the communities we serve.
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Transformation
Promoting institutional transformation through programmatic interventions focusing on the Constitutional principles of human dignity, equality, fairness, non-racism, non-sexism, and redress.
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Anti-Gender-based Violence
Support, reporting and management of gender-based violence for students and staff.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Xolela Madlanga
Research and Engagement Entities
Centre for the Advancement of Non-racialism and Democracy
CANRAD provides an intellectual and social space for debate and research on the complexities of post-apartheid South Africa as we seek to establish a new non-racial and democratic social and economic order.
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Centre for Women and Gender Studies
Framed around the histories of African intellectual traditions in the region, the CWGS seeks to contribute to an inclusive gender programme through research, gender mainstreaming in teaching, advocacy and engagement.
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Centre for Integrated Post-School Education and Training
CIPSET is a centre of learning, engagement and research excellence through socially engaged public scholarship in the areas of community, vocational and worker education.
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HIV & AIDS Research Unit
Striving to promote and sustain a collaborative response to the HIV & AIDS pandemic through governance, teaching and learning, research, community engagement and service provision.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Research Chairs and Institutes
Chair – Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation
CriSHET's praxis and programmatic work is rooted in the study of higher education through the lenses of critique and critical action, within the orbit of Critical University Studies (CUS) and other radical approaches to the study of the sector.
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DSI-NRF SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imagination
Linked to the Centre for Women and Gender Studies (CWGS), the Chair in African Feminist Imagination is dedicated to the study of creative sites of feminist expressions.
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Transdisciplinary Institute for Mandela Studies
TIMS is a joint project between the University, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Human Sciences Research Council to implement the scholarly formulation of the Mandela legacy.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Strategic Projects and Working Groups
Hubs of Convergence
The HoC offers physical and intellectual spaces to explore, experiment and reimagine the process of engagement between the University and its communities.
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COVID-19 Coordinating Committee
The CCC coordinates the University's external response to the COVID-19 pandemic in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, including local and provincial government, civil society, the private sector, and other communities.
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Food Systems Working Group
The Food Systems Working Group aims to understand, clarify, and map the various existing food system projects and programmes active in the University space, and to explore the potential of connecting - or the convergence of - these projects and programmes to be responsive to the challenges of food and food systems, both locally and globally.
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*iconography adapted with the permission of artist: Pola Maneli
Engagement and Transformation News
Nelson Mandela University alumnus in the running for an Oscar
The Hollywood Reporter, America’s entertainment bible, kickstarted the build-up to the 2027 Academy Awards with an article on 2 September predicting the winners of the Oscars.
Transdisciplinary Ocean Sciences and Ocean Sustainability Activism Symposium
Nelson Mandela University recently hosted the Transdisciplinary Ocean Sciences and Ocean Sustainability Activism Symposium (May 2026), a two-day gathering bringing together researchers, activists and postgraduate students around ocean sustainability, indigenous knowledge and coastal justice. A full record of the symposium, including the programme, concept note, presentations, photo galleries and video, can be viewed here.
BOOK LAUNCH: Predicaments of Knowledge - Decolonisation and Deracialisation in Universities by Suren
Join us for the launch of Predicaments of Knowledge: Decolonisation and Deracialisation in Universities by Suren Pillay.
Release of first ACUSAfrica book - Emancipatory Imaginations: Advancing Critical University Studies
We are pleased to announce that Emancipatory Imaginations: Advancing Critical University Studies is now available. Edited by Dina Zoe Belluigi and André Keet.