UCT Open Textbook Award and other updates

Dear colleagues and students

The UCT Open Textbook Award recognises outstanding and/or influential open textbooks written by UCT staff and students. Read more on nominations for this award and other updates below.

1. UCT Open Textbook Award  

Nominations are open for the UCT Open Textbook Award. The award may be made to single or multiple authored books. No restriction is placed on disciplinary orientation, language or format in which the book is written. There is also no restriction in terms of the publication date of the work. All nominated works must carry a Creative Commons or similar open license.

The UCT Open Textbook Award carries a value of R30 000 and may be shared between more than one recipient. The deadline for nominations is 30 July 2021. For more information, please visit the UCT Open Textbook Award page on the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching website.

• Read DVC Desk: UCT Open Textbook Award.

2. Forthcoming audit of UCT by the CHE

The Council on Higher Education (CHE), the statutory body responsible for the quality assurance of higher education institutions, will audit UCT between 16 August and 19 August 2022. The audit process will entail the development of an institutional self-evaluation report (SER) and portfolio of evidence, and a site visit by a panel of peers who will interrogate the SER with the university. The panel will then make a list of appropriate commendations and recommendations based on the criteria applied during the audit. A holistic assessment of the institution will be made, indicating the level of maturity of the internal quality assurance systems of the university.

• Read VC Desk: Forthcoming audit of UCT by the CHE.

3. ICTS scheduled maintenance on Sunday, 13 June

Please note that there is a scheduled maintenance slot by Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) on Sunday, 13 June from 09:00 to 17:00. Unless advised to the contrary, do not expect any ICT services to 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, etc that require ICT services. For more information, see the article on why ICTS schedules regular monthly maintenance slots.

4. Staff survey on remote teaching and learning

UCT is participating in a national survey on staff experiences and perspectives on remote emergency teaching and learning (RETL) and its future. The survey is being run by the Council on Higher Education, Universities South Africa and the University of the Free State. The survey seeks to gauge the level and type of support given to teaching staff by UCT, and how this can be improved.

The survey closes on 30 June 2021. For further questions on the survey please contact daniela.gachago@uct.ac.za.

• Please complete the survey.
• Read the DVC Desk: Staff survey on remote teaching and learning.

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements