SRC elections underway and other updates

Dear students

Students are encouraged to cast their votes in the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) elections that are currently underway. Read more on this and other updates below.

SRC elections underway

The UCT Election Commission is pleased to announce that the SRC elections are underway. Voting will remain open until Friday, 8 October at 23:59. Students can cast their vote online.

• Read the Campus Announcement: SRC elections underway.

Official launch of the inaugural Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professorship

The official launch of the inaugural Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professorship (BIVP) featuring the University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, will take place on Wednesday, 20 October, and the campus community is invited to attend the auspicious virtual event.

The year-long inaugural appointment is an initiative of the University of Bristol (UoB) and brings eminent global research leaders to UoB to engage with the university’s academic community and executive leadership. The appointment and subsequent partnership aim to identify, facilitate and develop opportunities for collaborative research, strategic partnerships and mutual learning. Professor Phakeng is the first academic selected to participate in this initiative.

• Register for the launch event.
• Read the news story: VC Phakeng joins inaugural Bristol Illustrious Visiting Professorship event.

ICTS maintenance to impact UCT services on Saturday, 9 October

Please note that the Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) will perform important data centre maintenance Saturday on 9 October from 09:00 to 17:00. As a result, many UCT services will be intermittent during this period. If you need to use any of the affected services, please schedule your work for either before or after the maintenance.

• Learn more about the maintenance.

Adherence to the curfew hours

Campus Protection Services (CPS) has noted an apparent trend where criminal incidents in the vicinity of the UCT campus occur late at night during the curfew period.

CPS has noted two incidents in the past two weeks, which happened during the curfew period. Although these incidents are few and far between, UCT reminds students and staff that under adjusted lockdown alert Level one, the curfew period is from midnight to 04:00. Students and staff are urged to adhere to the curfew. This will not only be in compliance with the law but will also minimise the possibility of opportunistic crime committed during the period with few people on the streets.

Transformation and Inclusion in Higher Education Lekgotla 2021

We live in a society defined by deep inequalities. In South Africa, the post-apartheid promise of free and quality education is met by the realities of lasting disparities related to race, gender, socio-economic class and disability, among other factors. These realities are fundamentally detrimental for the pace of transformation and inclusion in higher education institutions.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is committed to interrogating its progress towards being a truly African university which has rid itself of racism, harassment, hetero-patriarchy, trans/homophobia, xenophobia, and all forms of inequalities. Reviewing strategies and approaches that continuously measure and evaluate development towards an institution that is accessible to all as a university of choice, is therefore critical.

UCT will host the Transformation and Inclusion in Higher Education Lekgotla during the month of October. These will be held on:

• Monday, 11 October
• Thursday, 14 October
• Tuesday, 19 October
• Friday, 22 October
• Tuesday, 26 October
• Friday, 29 October

The aim is to connect and share work, best practice and limitations of structured approaches to better monitor, evaluate and track culture change within a student and staff population in an increasingly turbulent world.

• View the invitation to the Transformation and Inclusion in Higher Education Lekgotla 2021.
• View the dates of the Transformation and Inclusion in Higher Education Lekgotla 2021.

Update on COVID-19 cases

As at 1 October 2021, the university has 664 reported cases of COVID-19 among non-health sciences staff members, with 594 recoveries. The number of students who have tested positive stands at 378, with 370 recoveries. The university has lost 26 staff members and three students to the virus.

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