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Tukkievaria April 2016
EBIT Dean wins Engineering Excellence award
EBIT Celebrates 60 Years: 1956 - 2016 The Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT) hosted Grade 10–12 learners at this year’s first EBIT Week, which took place from 29 March–1 April 2016. This event serves as an excellent marketing tool for the Faculty as it attracts top learners in Mathematics and Physical Science from across South Africa and neighbouring countries. The learners were housed at Tuks residences where they got a feel for student life. Through lectures and lab visits in the nine engineering disciplines, these young minds were equipped with the information necessary to assist them in making informed career choices. The learners ended the programme with visits to various engineering-related industrial sites where they gained first-hand experience of being an engineer. Learners interested in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering participated in a hands-on workshop in the Departments’ labs where they engaged in two projects: the CDIO Lego Project (where they designed and built a small Lego car) and the Aerofoil Project (where they were tasked with numerically simulating and experimentally testing a National Association for Clean Air (NACA) aerofoil profile).
Dean of EBIT, Prof Sunil Maharaj was really pleased and said that Engineering week had been running for over 10 years, and was one of their success stories. “Historically we found that the majority of our students who enrolled for engineering at Tuks have attended an Engineering Week, which helped them decide to enrol with us. Particularly this year has had been well attended despite the week falling during the holidays. We had in excess of 200 attendees. One of our targets is to attract more women in engineering.” As part of the Faculty 60 Year of Engineering, companies such as SENTECH, POWERTECH and ATNS sponsered female learners from disadvantaged backgrounds with an average of 70 % in Maths and Science to attend the 2016 Engineering Week.
On the University’s 108th birthday, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Cheryl de la Rey addressed staff and thanked staff for their cooperation, understanding and loyalty during the protests that marked the start of the year.
Prof De la Rey unpacked the implications of the no fee increase which President Zuma agreed to at the end of 2015. One of the implications is that government needed to make funds available because a significant number of SA universities are facing bankruptcy. To address this, government allocated R4.6 billion for NSFAS and a further R2.3 billion to universities directly. Of this, UP received R132 million from government to cover our shortfall of R189 million and UP contributed R57 million. In the matter of historic debt, UP is owed R97 million. The missing middle students would be addressed from 2018 onwards. The damage to institutional assets at universities around SA has amounted to more than R150 million from the October 2015 protests to the present.
This award, sponsored by Doble Engineering, is awarded to an electrical or electronic engineer who is a member of SAIEE and has excelled in electrical engineering, and recognises individuals for outstanding and dedicated contributions to furthering the growth and development of the community, and of SAIEE’s activities in support of the electrical engineering profession.
Every day ended with activities that allowed the learners to interact with each other; games were played that presented them with intellectual challenges, and on Braai and Dance Night they had the opportunity to interact socially.
Academic Year 2016
Prof De la Rey contextualised the 2015 to recent protest action in a global light of an increasingly politicised environment in the higher education sector around the world, citing Canada and Chile’s protests as examples.
Prof Sunil Maharaj was recently honoured by the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) at their annual Banquet and Awards Function when he became the first ever university academic to receive the Engineering Excellence award.
UP 2016: Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Cheryl de la Rey addresses the crowd.
The Vice-Chancellor commended UP students for their impeccable and peaceful conduct during the #FeesMustFall protests. The University’s task team on Insourcing was established to oversee the implementation of the agreement signed by all parties. Workers would then receive R10 000 gross per month by the end of 2018. There will be a phased approach to insourcing as contracts expire and existing salaries will be topped up. Prof de la Rey concluded by reiterating that we need to continue striving for relevance, diversity, sustainability and quality; and added that a key quality of UP over the course of its existence has been its resilience and a loyal and dedicated staff and that UP is still a university of choice for top achievers.
For engineering excellence: Prof Sunil Maharaj receiving the award from SAIEE’s President, Mr André Hoffmann
New Director for Jazz Studies Prof Mageshan Naidoo who was recently appointed as Director for Jazz Studies in the Department of Music at the University of Pretoria (UP) has been elected President of the South African Association for Jazz Education (SAJE) . As a US Fulbright Student, he graduated with a Doctorate of Musical Arts (Performance) from the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, and holds a MM degree (Studio/Jazz Guitar Performance) from USC, a MMus Degree (Performance and Jazz Composition) which he completed cum laude. Prof Naidoo has won numerous awards for music and has performed extensively internationally as an acclaimed guitarist. His performance credits include internationally acclaimed artists and some of the highlights of his career include performing at the private birthday party of President Nelson Mandela and performances at both the Commonwealth Heads of State and African Heads of State conferences.