In conversation with Dr Max Price

At the start of his second term as UCT's Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price was in conversation with Judge Dennis Davis at the Baxter Concert Hall on Monday 19 August 2013. When Dr Price delivered his installation address to a Jameson Hall packed with dignitaries on 19 August 2008, the watchwords were redress and transformation, academic freedom and integrity, research excellence, and engaged citizenship. Five years later and into his second term, these remain fundamental challenges.

Judge Davis raised questions with Dr Price that covered issues related to differentiating UCT as a research-led institution, concerns that the university had about new legislation which could interfere in the management of universities and how UCT is focusing on developing partnerships and relationships with institutions on the African continent. The floor was also opened to questions from academics, PASS staff and students, underscoring what Price called for in his first address: that universities should offer spaces which encourage new ideas, controversy, argument and challenges to orthodoxy. The conversation also reflected on Price's first term in office and some tough questions on progress and the abiding tests that UCT faces in a country only 20 years into democracy.

Read the full story in the upcoming Monday Monthly out on August 26.