SRC AfriFund fundraiser and other updates

Dear colleagues and students

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Students’ Representative Council (SRC) will host a fashion show fundraiser for African students facing financial exclusion. Meanwhile,  nominations for the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards 2022 are open. Read about these and other updates below.

1. SRC AfriFund fashion show fundraiser

Members of the UCT community are invited to join the SRC at the AfriFund fundraiser fashion show on 30 September at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB).

The AfriFund was founded with a vision of assisting African international students who face possible financial exclusion with the necessary funds so that they can continue with their studies. The fund was launched at the end of 2021 and received a generous donation of R500 000 from UCT Chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe. Since its inception, the fund has assisted 21 students.

The aim of the fundraiser is to increase the number of beneficiaries. The goal is to help 50 students in 2023 and to achieve this an amount of R1 000 000 must be raised.

The event will be held in conjunction with Dr Moloi-Motsepe’s African Fashion International (AFI) and is supported by various stakeholders, including the GSB, Protea Hotel Marriot Cape Town, Topco Models and UCT’s International Academic Programmes Office.

Please join efforts to raise funds for deserving African students.

Time: 18:00
Venue: UCT GSB ACC, First Floor and Rooftop
Dress code: Formal African royalty
General access: R350

• Please RSVP and make payment for the event.
• Read about the SRC AfriFund fashion fundraiser.

2. Nominations for the VC’s Excellence Awards 2022

The Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) Excellence Awards provide an opportunity for the UCT executive to express appreciation for the teamwork, collective action, collaboration and leadership in the work of the university.

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.

Please submit nominations and applications to vc@uct.ac.za. The deadline for submission is Friday, 30 September 2022.

• Read the VC Desk: Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards 2022.

3. The 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference

The 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC 2022), which is open only to UCT staff and students, will take place in October.

The purpose of this conference is to reflect, connect and envision a socially just teaching and learning environment at UCT. The focus for this year’s conference is therefore: Vision 2030 and a socially just teaching and learning environment at UCT. TLC 2022 will adopt a hybrid approach. The first day of the conference (Tuesday, 25 October) will be in person and the second day (Thursday, 27 October) will be virtual.

All UCT staff and students researching higher education or education contexts are encouraged to attend.

For any further queries, please contact cilt.events@uct.ac.za.

• Read the DVC Desk: 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference.

4. ICTS scheduled maintenance

Please note that on Sunday, 18 September there will be an Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) scheduled maintenance slot from 08:00 to 17:00. All ICT services other than UCT email and other Microsoft 365 services will be unavailable for the duration of the maintenance slot.

Please remember to consult the scheduled ICTS maintenance slots before planning any teaching, conferences, meetings, etc that require ICT services.

For more information, see an article on why ICTS schedules regular monthly maintenance slots.

5. Measures in place during loadshedding

UCT has put measures in place to ensure that minimal teaching and learning time is lost during loadshedding, and that the impact on all other university operations is reduced as much as possible.

Both Eskom and the City of Cape Town issue regular notices in advance of loadshedding. UCT’s upper, middle and lower campuses, the health sciences campus and all residences are in Area 15. Hiddingh campus and the GSB are in Area 7. Staff and students are encouraged to check loadshedding schedules regularly and to plan accordingly.

The university has a limited number of venues with full back-up power which can be booked for study purposes, but these may not be available if they are already booked for other purposes.

These are:

• Upper campus: Sports Centre, Chancellor Oppenheimer Library and Sarah Baartman Hall
• Middle campus: Kramer Building
• The entire Hiddingh campus.

Some UCT facilities have generators to provide back-up power that is limited to research activities, emergency lighting, some power points, and access and fire-detection systems. Other UCT facilities have uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) that will provide emergency lighting and some power points for a limited time – usually about two hours. Wi-Fi will unfortunately not be available in most UCT buildings during power outages. Although UCT IP landlines will not function during loadshedding, the Campus Protection Services (CPS) landline (080 650 2222) will still be operational.

UCT has over 100 lifts. Staff and students are cautioned not to use these lifts 10 minutes prior to scheduled loadshedding slots. Some of the lifts have emergency dial-out systems that will allow communication with CPS, which you are advised to use if necessary. Alternatively, if you have airtime, make use of your cellphone to contact CPS on 021 650 2222.

• Check the City of Cape Town load shedding schedule.
• See a list of venues with back-up power that can be booked for study purposes.
• See a list of UCT venues with back-up power-generation capacity.
• Read tips on managing load shedding.

6. Third party system to be updated

If you manage access to UCT services for third parties, please plan ahead as the system will be offline for updates at the end of October.

Visit the ICTS website for further information.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements