Annual Bongani Mayosi Memorial Lecture and other updates

Dear students and colleagues

This campus announcement aims to keep the UCT community informed about recent developments at the institution.

1. Annual Bongani Mayosi Memorial Lecture: A celebration of African scholarship

The Annual Bongani Mayosi Memorial Lecture will take place on 28 January 2021 at 18:00 (SAST) on the MS Teams platform. Professor George Mensah will present the lecture. He is a clinician-scientist who currently serves as the director of the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health in the USA.

• Learn more and register for the lecture.

2. Revised EE policy

UCT has updated its Employment Equity (EE) policy and its annual EE reporting. The revised policy will come into effect on 1 February 2021, following Council’s approval last month. This policy sets out clear principles that underpin decision making that affects people in the workplace.

The revised policy enables the institution to enter the new year with a fresh approach to EE implementation, by providing clear definitions of key concepts; encapsulating the key principles that are embedded in EE legislation; and covering EE implementation guidelines at every stage of an employee’s life cycle in the organisation, including a dispute resolution mechanism for interpreting UCT’s EE plan.

• Read the DVC Desk: A new era for Employment Equity implementation at UCT.

3. UCT Open Textbook Award recipients announced

The inaugural UCT Open Textbook Award recognises outstanding and/or influential open textbooks written by UCT staff and students. It carries a value of R30 000. This award is an initiative of the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, in collaboration with the Digital Open Textbooks for Development project in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.

The 2020 Open Textbook Award is shared by Professor Johan Fagan and Dr Michael Held for their respective contributions to the open access teaching and learning of two important healthcare fields.

• Read the DVC Desk: The UCT Open Textbook Award.

4. ICTS scheduled maintenance on Sunday, 31 January

Please note that on Sunday, 31 January 2021, the Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) department will perform scheduled maintenance from 09:00 to 17:00. Unless advised to the contrary, staff and students should note that no ICT services will be available for the duration of the maintenance slot. Please remember to consult the scheduled ICTS maintenance slots for 2021 before planning any teaching, conferences, meetings, and other activities that require ICT services.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements