Page 7 - Transformation Report

FOREWORD

In my inaugural address in April 2018, I indicated that, in transformational terms, we need to work to make the University
organisationally more efficient to serve our students, staff and community better. And, in transformative terms, we should
give our University a sharper internally and externally directed social justice purpose and praxes.

I remain steadfastly committed to these ideals and objectives and will, with the collective support of our university
communities and Council, continue to pursue this trajectory. It is, to my mind, the right thing to do.

We are as this report shows, and as far as transformation is concerned, an imperfect yet functional ecosystem; an
interdependent and entangled collective.

Guided by our country’s constitutional aspirations and the higher education law and policy regime, the Council-approved
Institutional Transformation Plan (2018-2022) provides strategic and practical guidance for achieving the University’s
10 transformation goals. This report narrates our institutional performance for the 2018-2020 period and serves as an
expression of our accountability to the Council, ourselves, and our publics. More importantly, it outlines our progress and
highlights areas for renewal and improvement.

I am pleased about the work being done, though also acutely aware of the challenges we are facing institutionally and as
a sector; and encourage all of us to mobilise this report reflexively in our endeavours to be a transformative, responsive
university.

With gratitude to all.

Prof Sibongile Muthwa
Vice-Chancellor

The Engagement and Transformation Portfolio came formally into being in 2020 through wide consultations rooted in the
University’s desire to serve a larger social purpose, beyond itself, as a citizen member of a regional, national, and global
polity. It is thus a key ‘outfit’ in giving expression to the University’s ambition of being in service of society and co-creating
a sustainable and socially-just world.
A central function of this portfolio is to serve as a facilitative and coordinative ‘mechanism’ that stimulates and activates
resources across the University’s divisions to advance the idea of a transformative, responsive University. The portfolio’s
progress is detailed in this report; however, an overview is presented in the next few pages.

Deep, radical, and ongoing institutional transformation is a prerequisite to achieving this ideal. This report suggests that we
are making headway, despite some difficulties and hindrances.

I would like to thank Dr Levendal and the Transformation Office for putting this report together and relay my sincere
appreciation to the executive members and their teams for feeding their work into this report.

Prof André Keet
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Engagement and Transformation

7 TRANSFORMATION REPORT