UWC MAKING A DIFFERENCE Transforming Communities • Nurturing Innovation • Finding Sustainable Solutions
U
VC INTRO
WC, we believe, is on the cusp of greatness. Thanks to some astute planning and determined leadership at all levels, the University is performing and competing among the top research-led universities in the country. We have a strong sense of our place and role in the national and global contexts. We have come a long way since our troubled founding. We have cast aside the spell of apartheid that sought to condemn us to providing a poor education to our people and are playing an active transformative role in education for the good of our society. Our history shows that we have always dreamed of change, and we are not afraid to dream big. Last year we developed a new Institutional Operating Plan (IOP) for 2015-2019, which allows us to imagine the campus that we need to become, to make ourselves sustainable, and to stay relevant. The Plan is concerned both with consolidating our position as one of Africa’s best universities, and with making space for strategic agility, which implementing the last IOP taught us is vital in a rapidly changing environment. Building on what we have achieved and weighing up new options at this promising stage in UWC’s journey offers a particular opportunity for imaginative thinking and rewarding engagement. There is an end to this, of course. I believe that UWC – and any university – has to be an unapologetically intellectual community with an ongoing interest in the significance of knowledge for our country and the world. It has to engage with the world beyond its precincts. At UWC, we have a sense of our place in the world and what we want to achieve. We believe that the changes we make in our own community can reverberate through our entire society, and the rest of the world. We imagine making a difference on many fronts, from advancing development in communities by enabling students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed; to improving public health and creative enjoyment. Realising these objectives demands resources. We have to pay attention to staffing, facilities and practices, as well as to national and international research partnerships and to competitiveness in funding applications. The rewards, however, are worth the effort. If we work together, we can help make UWC a greater force for change in South Africa, Africa and the world – helping new generations to grow from hope to action through knowledge.
Professor Tyrone Pretorius Rector and Vice-Chancellor
THE PLAN UWC’s IOP is framed as a broad and integrated operational framework for 20152019. It represents a strategic interpretation of UWC’s role as a public South African university. Our five themes intersect with eight goal areas concerned with issues of national transformation and social justice, inclusiveness and diversity, sustainability and innovation, and the need for local and global partnerships – built on the underlying principle that resources follow strategies.
THEMES
1. THE UNIVERSITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE
2. INNOVATION
3. RESEARCH- INTENSIVENESS
4. INTERNATIONALISA- TION
1. THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING
3. RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
4. EXCELLENT TALENT
5. FINANCIAL VIABILITY
6. ENHANCING UWC’S STANDING AND PROFILE
7. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAMPUS AND SURROUNDING AREAS
8. LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
GOAL AREAS
5. THE 21ST CENTURY GRADUATE
HISTORIC UWC MILESTONES 1960: The University College of the Western Cape opens its doors.
1975: Prof Richard van der Ross is appointed as UWC’s first black Rector.
2008: The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship is introduced to UWC, promoting an international postgraduate education experience. The first cohort of Fellows is accepted in 2009.
1978: UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserve is declared a National Monument (now known as a provincial heritage site). 1983: The University of the Western Cape Act finally grants UWC autonomy on the same terms as the established ‘white’ institutions – UWC is free to determine its own destiny. 1987: New Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Jakes Gerwel declares UWC as the ‘university of the left’.The University deracialises and opens its doors to African students.
UWC inaugurates its longest-serving Chancellor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who would serve for more than 25 years.
1990: UWC becomes the first university to award the late President Mandela an honorary doctorate upon his release from prison. 1991: UWC launches South Africa’s first School of Public Health outside a medical school, with Prof David Sanders as founding director. 1993: UWC’s anti-apartheid media project Bush Radio goes on air as a pirate radio station and shortly thereafter becomes South Africa’s first licensed community radio station. 1994: Many academics from UWC join President Mandela’s government and are appointed to ministerial and advisory positions.
UWC’s leadership takes part in writing the higher education policy for the incoming Government. The South African interim Constitution and final Constitution are drafted at UWC.
1995: UWC launches its first website – joining the internet age before other universities in the Mother City.
UWC launches the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) to engage in research, training, policy development and advocacy in relation to land reform, rural governance and natural resource management.
2002: Under the leadership of Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Brian O’Connell, UWC successfully resists a forced merger and holds onto its name and autonomy. 2003: UWC acquires the first protein X-ray crystallography facility in South Africa (thanks to funding from the
Carnegie Foundation), a major boost to research capacity development in biotechnology.
2009: South African writer Meg Vandermerwe initiates UWC Creates, the only creative writing programme in South Africa operating across three languages (English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa). 2010: 10 SARChI chairs awarded to UWC, the highest number awarded to any university in SA that year (as of 2016, UWC hosts 14 Chairs). 2012: UWC launches its Technology Transfer Office to help promote the development and protection of intellectual property of the University’s research community, staff and students.
UWC is declared Africa’s Greenest Campus in the inaugural African Green Campus initiative Challenge.
2013: UWC signs the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in the Sciences and Humanities, joining hundreds of institutions around the world dedicated to supporting the principles of open access and working to achieve openness in publicly funded projects. 2014: The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security is established at UWC, the first Centre of Excellence to be housed at an historically disadvantaged institution.
For the first time, UWC awards over 100 PhDs and over 4,000 degrees in one year.
UWC is recognised as a top-tier university by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
At UWC’s first Chancellor’s Dinner for Outstanding Alumni, eight UWC alumni who went on to become Rectors or Principals of South African universities are honoured (Prof Tyrone Pretorius, the ninth, was appointed later).
UWC graduates its first master’s students as a hub of the National Nanosciences and Technologies Platform.
2016: UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research is awarded the Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities by the NRF.
UWC is awarded a UK-SA bilateral chair in food security.
UWC: BY THE NUMBERS
RACE
20,583
TOTAL STUDENTS
8,214
FEMALE 12,369
(Source: UWC 2015 Annual Report)
1ST TIME ENTERING UNDERGRADS
4,424
POSTGRADUATES
16,159
COLOURED
47%
4,109
MALE
43%
UNDERGRADUATES
GENDER
AFRICAN
WHITE
UNDERGRAD & POSTGRAD
INDIAN
BREAKDOWN
5%
5%
STUDENT COMPOSITION
FACULTIES ARTS
9%
20%
DENTISTRY
ECONOMIC & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
NATURAL SCIENCES
EDUCATION
80% POSTGRADUATE UNDERGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL
+
COMMUNITY & HEALTH SCIENCES
LAW
GROWING OUR RESEARCH CAPACITY
Historically disadvantaged universities have struggled to claim a place among South Africa’s recognised research-led institutions, having been long starved of resources. UWC has bucked this trend, and is increasingly acclaimed for its research output. The University continues to improve the quality of its postgraduate offering. Our graduation and throughput rates are now in line with national benchmarks. While challenges remain, the University is taking the opportunities to excel that will allow it to become a leader in the production and transfer of cutting-edge knowledge in key fields nationally, regionally and internationally.
350 300
Number of Staff
250 200 150 100 50 Master’s
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 168 175 192 191 200 173 182 196 188 199
Doctorate 199 210 222 249 243 247 283 290 301 332 Rated Researchers 65 67 64 57 77 75 87 95 104 117
36%
Increase in staff with a master’s
67%
Increase in staff with a doctorate (Source: UWC 2015 Annual Report)
78%
Increase in staff with an NRF rating
NRF
The Evaluation & Rating System is a proxy for quality
RISING STAR A report by the National Research Foundation (NRF) shows that UWC leads South African universities in research in the fields of physics, molecular biology and genetics, and biology and biochemistry. It takes second place in computer science research.
RATINGS
117
NUMBER OF STAFF WITH NRF RATINGS
3
Number of A-rated researchers
Number of B-rated researchers
24
NATIONAL CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
14
2
Number of national research chairs held under the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI)
RESEARCH OUTPUT
7th
National research output
overall growth in output between
2005 and 2013 54%
90%
overall growth in peerreviewed conference proceedings, the highest in the country
LEADING THE WAY In 2014, UWC capped the country’s first graduates of the new MSc in Nanoscience programme. Funded by the Department of Science and Technology, the programme is offered jointly with the Universities of Johannesburg and the Free State and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
ACADEMIC MILESTONES 1 UWC is the leading university in South Africa in the fields of Ecology, Nuclear Physics, Genetics & Heredity, Planning & Development, and Multidisciplinary Sciences (Web of Science citation impact for 1993–2012). 2 UWC has been elected South Africa’s Greenest Campus twice since the Green Campus Initiative awards began in 2012. 2 UWC is ranked second in Computer Sciences by the National Research Foundation. 3 The number of World Health Organisation Collaborating Centres hosted by UWC (in Oral Health, Health Systems Complexity and Change, and Bioinformatics and Human Health). 3 Current Vice-Chancellors of South African universities who are UWC alumni (including Prof Tyrone Pretorius). 4 UWC’s ranking overall among South African institutions for research citations. 7 UWC’s ranking on the Times Higher Education rankings of the top universities in Africa for research influence. 9 UWC alumni have gone on to become Rectors or Vice- Chancellors of South African universities. 14 The number of SARChI Chairs hosted at UWC. 15 UWC academics who have been honoured with membership in the Academy of Sciences of South Africa.
48 The number of state-of-the-art school science labs developed by UWC’s Science Learning Centre for Africa. 56 The percentage of teaching staff at UWC who hold doctorates. 105: The number of PhDs who graduated from UWC in 2014. 100 UWC’s ranking among all 2,500 universities in the BRICS countries (placing it in the top 5%). 220 Species of indigenous plants protected in UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserve (along with over 100 bird species). The reserve is a publicly accessible biodiversity teaching and research facility. 365 The percentage growth in UWC’s research output from 2001 to 2013. 1,000 Number of papers held by UWC’s Research Repository, freely available to anybody in the world. 2,000 Student volunteers at UWC who actively participate in green campus initiatives, including clean-up campaigns, green talks and debates, and green gardening activities. 10,000 The number of students from South Africa and other African countries who have participated in the UWC School of Public Health’s Summer and Winter Schools since 1992, making it the largest continuing education programme in public health in Africa. 20,000 Students currently registered at UWC.
47 The percentage of South Africa’s dentists produced by UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry. (Source: UWC 2015 Annual Report)
2,512
BUSINESS/ MANAGEMENT
7,794
SCIENCE
12.2%
37.9% HEADCOUNT BY MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY
8.6%
41.3% HUMANITIES
EDUCATION
1,767
8,510
1994 2015 DEGREES CONFERRED
1,931 4,030 209%
MASTER’S STUDENTS
52
393 756%
DOCTORAL STUDENTS
8
105 1,150%
INNOVATION BRAVE NEW WORLDS UWC continues to build strong relationships with South African industry. This has accelerated over recent years as more and more UWC researchers are exploring commercialisation opportunities. This drive is supported by UWC’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO).
PREPPING FOR THE FUTURE • UWC hosts a 2,5 kW hydrogen fuel cell power generator prototype unit, demonstrating South Africa’s innovative capabilities in the emerging hydrogen and fuel cell technologies space. The prototype was developed by the HySA Systems Integration and Technology Validation Centre of Competence (HySA Systems) in collaboration with Hot Platinum (Pty) Ltd, a local company involved in power management and control electronics. • UWC’s South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry (SAIAMC) holds two large research and innovation grants from the DST. The first is for a lithium-ion battery and super-capacitor key programme extension, while the second is for the development of a plasma spray-coating system. • UWC is recognised as a world leader in Constitutional Law and Child Rights Law. • The Sensorlab hosts the SARChI Chair in Nanoelectrochemistry and Sensor Technology and is the top national laboratory for smart sensing devices.
ENGAGEMENT THE STUDENT-IN-COMMUNITY UWC takes the student-in-community as its academic point of departure for community engagement – which means the University pursues ongoing engagement with the communities from which its students hail. Its aim is to provide academic work of the highest order that addresses the concerns of those communities while simultaneously preparing students for a place in the global environment. The University’s engagement takes many forms – from teaching and research to advocacy and service. In pursuit of these objectives, UWC has established a Community Engagement Unit, which plays an advisory and coordinating role and also runs its own projects, including a UWC Community Engagement Database that keeps track of the University’s community work. Two such projects are:
DENTISTRY UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry is the largest in South Africa, providing cutting-edge research and teaching while also providing worldclass services to the community.
ROOTED IN COMMUNITY The faculty operates two community-based facilities where students and staff assist approximately 120,000 theatre patients annually. It also services the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, the largest referral hospital for children in South Africa. Its genetics clinic has patient records spanning 30 years.
TEACHING & LEARNING The faculty produces almost 50% of South Africa’s dentists. It is also actively involved in building capacity throughout the continent, playing a vital role in training the trainer.
ADDRESSING THE SOUTH AFRICAN MATHS & SCIENCE CHALLENGE Through the Science Learning Centre for Africa (SLCA), the University is promoting the culture of maths and science, one school at a time. We are currently working with:
332
TEACHERS
& 80,000 STUDENTS
INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMME We have constructed state-of-the-art Science Learning Centres (laboratories) at schools in the Western Cape (WC), Eastern Cape (EC) and Northern Cape (NC). By the end of 2016 laboratories will be completed.
48
PROMOTING EXCELLENCE IN ORAL HEALTH CARE The Faculty plays a prominent role in the advancement of oral health in South Africa and Africa.
CULTURE OF SCIENCE LEARNING
We build a culture of maths and science learning through: • Tutorial programmes for Grade 12 learners • Science competitions in the EC, WC and NC • A Women in Mathematics programme • An Aviation programme • A Robotics Initiative • Annual National Science Week • Science Clubs in the three provinces.
UWC IN THE GLOBAL LANDSCAPE We live in a small world. Any university recognised for its research and innovation has to play its part in that connected world. UWC has long enjoyed fruitful and collaborative ties with international institutions. For example, it recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of Dynamics of Building a Better Society (DBBS), an inter-university collaboration with Flemish universities in Belgium. UWC is strengthening its existing links to Nordic countries through the Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD), a project that now boasts 43 member institutions, and its collaboration with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). It also has a 30-year ongoing collaboration with the University of Missouri, with which it has launched a new project to boost research in nanoscience, herbal medicine, radiopharmaceuticals and cancer.
LOCAL CONCERNS WITH GLOBAL IMPACT • UWC co-hosts, with the University of Pretoria, South Africa’s Centre of Excellence in Food Security, an initiative jointly funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF). Working with over 100 South African and international researchers, the Centre seeks to address one of the world’s most pressing problems. This is the first DST-NRF Centre of Excellence to be hosted at a historically black university. • UWC also hosts three World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centres. These are in the fields of capacity development, teaching and research – in dentistry and public health. • UWC has established a Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research (CMDR), which looks at transmigrational and global economies of the South. • UWC hosts the UNESCO Chair in Science and Mathematics Education. • The UNESCO Centre for Groundwater Studies researches and advises on sustainable groundwater use and management in Africa.
NURTURING THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS UWC 2015 PHD GRADUATE AND POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW, DR IMOGEN WRIGHT Selected for the 2016 USA Techwoman programme and runner-up for the African Innovation Prize, Dr Imogen Wright is part of UWC’s spin-off company, Hyrax Biosciences’ Exatype programme. Exatype is a novel software application that enables healthcare workers to rapidly evaluate HIV DNA in an HIV-AIDS infected patient’s blood in order to gauge the patient’s level of resistance to different HIV antiretroviral drugs. With 71% of those living with HIV/AIDS residing in Africa, the speed, simplicity and accuracy of this unique solution to a complex problem has the potential to bring personalised medicine within the reach of those most in need. Dr Wright was the second young scientist from UWC to be selected for the USA Techwoman programme.
UWC ASTROPHYSICIST AND PHD CANDIDATE, SIYAMBONGA MATSHAWULE The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) nominated five top young physicists from South Africa to attend the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany, in 2016. Siyambonga Matshawule joined 402 other young scientists from 80 different countries at the meeting. Siyambonga was the second young UWC astrophysicist to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, which have been held annually since 1951.
Six of the nine UWC alumni who served as Vice-Chancellors of South African universities (pictured with UWC Chancellor, Archbishop Makgoba).
SUSTAINABILITY At the University of the Western Cape, we are educating young people to succeed in a global world of increasing disruption – digital disruption, socio-economic disruption and disruption of the status quo in thinking differently and entrepreneurially, creating new knowledge, and being relevant to the challenges of a changing world. Amid these disruptions, universities are grappling with the hard questions that emanate around inequality and the need for change. Support for UWC has never been more critical as South Africa faces major economic challenges that have seen the University’s traditional sources of income, including government support, dwindle while tuition fees are being challenged in the discussion around inequality. We need your support to enable UWC to remain a leader in South Africa and on the African continent as a major player in the transformation of the status quo.
THE UWC 5-YEAR CAPITAL CAMPAIGN 2016-2020 The UWC capital campaign aims to raise funds primarily for the overall sustainability of the University, underscored by its imperative to sustain academic excellence for our students.
It is essential to initiate major capital projects that are underpinned by an educational vision, promote collaborative problem-based learning and permit greater reassignment, consolidation and rationalisation of these spaces. The UWC 5-year capital campaign aims to address some of these funding challenges, ironically stemming from the University becoming one of South Africa’s leading research-led universities while at the same time honouring its commitment to open access to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
ACCESS FOR SUCCESS : THE JAKES GERWEL EDUCATION, ENDOWMENT AND DEVELOPMENT FUND Since education is the core business of the University, the aim of the Jakes Gerwel Education, Endowment and Development Fund is to provide comprehensive bursaries to enable deserving students from disadvantaged backgrounds to study at UWC. The Jakes Gerwel Education, Endowment and Development Fund was established in 2012 in memory of the late Professor
health disciplines offered by the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences. The former hospital will be transformed into the state-of-the-art Bellville Medical Centre, which will provide high-quality education to students from the departments of Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Natural Medicine.
COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES BUILDING The building will be erected in the University’s old Life Sciences complex. The new building will form part of the larger Science Precinct, and will house the Departments of Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science and Information Systems. Jakes Gerwel who, during his term as Rector of the University of the Western Cape, consistently championed equal access to higher education by broadening access to UWC for disadvantaged students.
INFRASTRUCTURE UWC is now faced with a new challenge borne out of its own success – the need to build the necessary infrastructure to keep up with its growth and the needs of its students and researchers. Plans for the next five years will see the campus expand into a more vibrant space that is urban
in scale and density, and is marked by facilities for innovation, learning, engaged living and work. We invite you to partner with us to support campus improvement projects that will enrich the student experience.
NEW FACILITIES IN THE PIPELINE BELLVILLE MEDICAL CENTRE Having acquired the former JS Hospital in the nearby Bellville business district, the University able to expand its infrastructure
Marais central will be for the
CHEMICAL SCIENCES BUILDING An opportunity to invest in cutting edge research and facilities.
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION An opportunity to invest in 1,200 beds for our students.
SPORTS PRECINCT The development of a high performance sports centre will enhance University sports programmes and serve the surrounding communities where sports facilities are limited.
MAKE A DONATION TO UWC The University recognises and appreciates the generosity of individuals, business and organisations that invest in our students, programmes and services in order to help the University fulfil its ethos and mission. Many innovative sponsorship options are available to donors, including public/ private partnerships in the development of infrastructure and University sustainability, research collaboration, training and development, capacity building and skills development. Prospective donors wishing to find out more about the above projects are invited to contact the University of the Western Cape’s Donor Relations Office at: Tel: +27 21 959 3904/ +27 21 959 2627 or Ms Ingrid Fourie Manager: Donor Relations Tel:+27 21 959 9517 E-mail:ifourie@uwc.ac.za All donations to UWC are tax deductible in accordance with Section 18A of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. You can make a donation to UWC by cheque, online or by electronic funds transfer.
CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS
1 DONATION VIA EFT Banking Details: Account Name: University of the Western Cape Name of Bank: ABSA Bank Branch Code: 560810 Account No: 40-5089-3930 Reference: Name of Donor Branch: Epping Swift Code: ABSAZAJJ Please email proof of payment to esadien@uwc.ac.za. Should you have any questions or queries regarding donation options, please contact Mr Essa Sadien at Tel: +27 21 959 3141 or email: esadien@uwc.ac.za.
If you’d like to support UWC by making an online donation, please visit our website: http://uwc.devman.co.za/Devman/web/ giving.
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UWC
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Transforming Communities • Nurturing Innovation • Finding Sustainable Solutions
From
Hopeto action through
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