COVID-19 fund R20m target and other updates

Dear colleagues

This campus announcement aims to inform the UCT community about recent developments on campus.

1. UCT targets R20m through COVID-19 fund

UCT set up a COVID-19 Emergency Fund in April 2020 to assist in the fight against the virus and its impact on the university community. The goal is to raise R20 million towards addressing urgent priorities related to staff and students during and after the lockdown.

The university is extremely grateful to donors who have already contributed more than R8.2 million towards the fund. These donations came from – among others – corporates, foundations, alumni and staff. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, demonstrated her personal support by donating 20% of her salary to the fund for a three-month period. Other members of the UCT executive and several members of staff are also supporting the fund.

A donation of any amount will go a long way towards helping students complete the academic year and towards support measures for staff in this period. Donations can be made into a dedicated account or online.

• Read more on the DAD website.

2. Helping to unleash the new global university

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education international activities and the financial models on which universities increasingly depend. But the previous model was already problematic, contributing to global warming and benefitting rich universities more than the poorer ones. UCT will on Monday, 29 June, host the first of a series of virtual events: Unleashing the New Global University. These virtual events will seize the moment to rethink global collaborations for a sustainable and equitable planet.

• Read the VC Desk: How you can help unleash the new global university.

3. UCT Transformation Report for 2019

The 2019 Transformation Report was released this week. While it continues to demonstrate the university’s efforts in building a more inclusive and diverse institution, it also highlights for the first time how transformation benchmarks have been employed. These markers allow for the systematic tracking of progress in relation to transformation. It is hoped that the report can be adopted and used as a guiding framework to support transformation work in 2020 and beyond.

To mark the release of the report, a public panel discussion with some of the contributors to the report will be hosted on 3 July 2020.

• Read the DVC Desk: Introducing the UCT Transformation Report for 2019.

4. Development Dialogue approach under COVID-19

The Human Resources Department has prepared a document to guide and support the implementation of the Development Dialogue (DD) process for PASS staff. The overarching direction is that all PASS staff should have an opportunity to complete the DD process of reviewing performance for the 2019-2020 cycle, and to contract objectives for the next performance cycle which runs from 2020 to 2021. Furthermore, the process of implementing and conducting DD’s to give due regard to the key principles as articulated in this document. These principles are underpinned by consistent and fair treatment of employees and fair implementation of the process.

• Read the COO Desk: Development Dialogue approach under COVID-19.