In Celebration of Excellence

Awards ceremony

Awards ceremony

programmes like FLY@UP—in which advisors play a key role—made it possible for students with electricity, a smart device, an Internet connection and sufficient data to continue doing their academic work, while at the same time providing them with the personal, social and technical support they needed to keep working.

However, there were many students without the blessing of a good study space at home, devices and connectivity. For them, University interventions provided a lifeline. Mr Mahan, the advisor for the Faculty of Theology and Religion, says: ‘Just imagine, one day a loaned laptop gets delivered to a student in a village and the next, data is loaded on her phone. That same afternoon she joins a video call with her tutor and learns how to download some much-needed reading material. Step by step, this emerging scholar and thousands like her learned that staying far away has its advantages, protecting their health and that of others. They also learned that with enough hard work and good will, not to mention a little old-fashioned luck, people bound together by their membership in the University of Pretoria community can still find themselves in surprising proximity to their dreams, come what may’.

From the point of view of advising, in the opinion of Dana Mahan, ‘the freedom to accept that life through lockdown would be hard, though not impossible, made all the difference in the world’. Advisors remained in contact with students through WhatsApp, email and other online platforms.

In November of 2020, the Dean of Theology and Religion, Professor Jerry Pillay, hosted an awards ceremony for students in his faculty who had recently completed their degrees with the highest level of performance and distinction. The group of graduates and their families joined their former lecturers and other University staff members at Philadelphia Church, not far from Hatfield campus, for this carefully planned event, organised with strict observance to all necessary health protocols, but also filled with great joy and satisfaction.

Professor Jaco Beyers, head of the Department of Religion Studies and Chairperson of the Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee, served as the master of ceremonies, welcoming all the guests at the outset and offering a final farewell as the occasion drew to a close. Professor Pillay delivered the keynote address, and Ms Lethabo Molopyane, the merit award recipient with the best overall average, shared a testimonial from her days as a postgraduate student in the faculty. From the words of wisdom to the certificates handed over; from the gift baskets provided to the photos taken, it was a very special time indeed for all those blessed to attend. During a separate event, the faculty award for teaching excellence was presented to Professor Sias Meyer for his innovative ways of presenting lectures to students, using a hybrid form of teaching, and reaching out to students in creative ways.

Throughout the year, a great deal of time, energy and money, all the resources an institution like the University of Pretoria can muster, are directed at identifying students who are struggling to reach the standard of performance expected of them, so that the obstacles they face can be removed and their march toward completing their degree programmes can continue unimpeded. From a leadership perspective, however, this effort to guide and assist such students is best accompanied by placing equal emphasis and recognition upon their peers who, in the fullness of time, surpass the educational expectations set before them.

Through the awarding of merit certificates to top-achievers and the faculty award for teaching excellence, Professor Pillay, Professor Beyers and others ensured that an important, careful balance of encouragement and support remained firmly in place, even amid the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic over the course of 2020. If the show must go on, so must the hard work and the celebration of student and lecturer success.