VC’s Excellence Awards 2021 and other updates

06 October 2021 | Campus Announcement

Dear colleagues

All professional, administrative support and services (PASS) staff are encouraged to apply or nominate colleagues for the Global Citizenship Award and the Service Excellence Award, while all staff at UCT involved in transformation work are invited to apply for, or nominate colleagues, for the Transformation Award under the Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) Excellence Awards. Read more on this and other updates below.

VCs’ Excellence Awards 2021

After what has been yet another challenging year, the Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards provide an opportunity for the UCT executive to express appreciation for the teamwork, collective action, collaboration and leadership that have ensured the sustainability of the university during this difficult time.

The VCs’ Excellence Awards committee calls on anyone who is aware of teams or individuals who have gone over and above the line of duty to make a difference in the lives of others through transformative change, to nominate them for the VC’s Excellence Awards. Awards will be made in the three categories: global citizenship, service excellence and transformation.

Read the VC Desk: Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards 2021.

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.

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 on Saturday, 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.

Reminder: Social responsiveness course development grant deadline extension

The submission deadline for the Social Responsiveness course development grant has been extended to 11 October 2021. Staff at UCT need to embed social responsiveness into teaching and learning in order to graduate students who are able to deal not only with technical complexity, but with social complexity as well. For this reason, four grants of R10 000 each are available to develop, design or revise a course that meets the criteria outlined in the application form. For purposes of this grant, these courses need to be a part of the formal curriculum.

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.

Kaelo Clinic trialling different opening hours

This month, Kaelo Clinic is trialling different opening hours. These are as follows: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:00 to 16:00; Tuesday and Friday from 08:00 to 12:00. Kaelo is a campus-based medical clinic for staff, situated next to the Jammie Shuttle bus stop outside Graça Machel Hall on Baxter Road. Launched two years ago, its services are aimed at staff in pay classes 2–6.

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.

Communication and Marketing Department

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