Make UCT your home - Price

Mingling: VC Dr Max Price chats with new employees Dr Anne Kayem, Liz Werth, Richard Barne, Joy Arnold and Linda Arendse at a staff welcoming function.

A good reputation, a safe environment and excellent support structures were cited as draw cards by the many new UCT staff members who were welcomed by vice-chancellor Dr Max Price at a function on 28 September.

The event, the second of its kind this year, allowed new employees to network and feel comfortable at UCT - and in Cape Town in general.

Price said there is a feeling that Cape Town is a closed community, with people from outside often struggling to integrate socially. The function is one of the ways UCT is trying to change that.

Referring to the long-service ceremony to be held next week, Price noted that UCT has a history of retaining its staff, and urged new staff members to make the university their home - and a place their children would come to.

The welcome impressed several newcomers. Douglas Sias, information and technology administrator at the Faculty of Health Sciences, said the fact that Price, as busy as he is, managed to spare time to welcome them is a good indication that the university is receptive to its new employees.

Since he started in June, his colleagues had helped him to adapt and learn the ropes quicker than he'd expected, he added.

Tazneem Davids said she had waited a long time for the opportunity to work at UCT and is planning to forge a long career here.