Campus announcements
Inaugural lecture by Professor Sinanovic and other updates
14 September 2023Dear colleagues and students
The head of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Health Economics Division, Professor Edina Sinanovic, will present the eighth UCT Inaugural Lecture on Monday, 18 September 2023. Read more on this and other updates below.
1. Inaugural lecture by Professor Sinanovic
Professor Edina Sinanovic will present her lecture titled “Getting the most out of life – Understanding the opportunity cost of your decisions” on Monday, 18 September 2023 at Wolfson Lecture Theatre, IDM Building, Health Sciences campus at 17:00.
The combination of constrained resources and increasing demands in health care is making priority setting a crucial factor for health policy. This is particularly essential in South Africa where a great deal remains to be done for the country to achieve universal health coverage through the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI).
If the NHI aims to maximise benefits to the society with a limited budget – and conversely minimise opportunity costs – there is a need to measure the relative costs and benefits of alternative interventions. A healthcare intervention that is cost-effective is one in which additional health benefits have been leveraged against their additional costs, resulting in a more efficient healthcare provision.
In this inaugural lecture, Sinanovic will reflect on her life and career to date, focused on providing policymakers with the economic evidence they need to maximise the use of limited resources. She will outline the critical role of economic evaluation in health priority setting and the work she has done in this area, especially in relation to tuberculosis interventions and the human papillomavirus vaccine.
Sinanovic is a professor of health economics and acting director of the Health Economics Unit at the School of Public Health.
The other upcoming lecture will be presented by Professor Jacqueline Yeats on Wednesday, 27 September.
2. Reminder: Please sign up for the CHE survey
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) has extended an invitation to academic staff and students to participate in a research study that will provide valuable guidance for the implementation of future quality assurance mechanisms in South African higher education.
The CHE is conducting a study on ‘The State of Quality of Higher Education in South Africa’. The purpose is to gather information, views and perspectives to understand the state of quality of higher education and the changes that have resulted from the implementation of quality assurance.
The study requires participants to respond to questionnaires, and participate in focus group discussions and interviews. Please sign up by Friday, 15 September 2023.
- Read the full DVC Desk: CHE study on quality of higher education in SA.
- Sign up to participate in the study (academic staff).
- Sign up to participate in the study (students).
3. ICTS scheduled maintenance on Sunday, 17 September
Please note that Sunday, 17 September 2023 will be an ICTS scheduled maintenance slot. Unless advised to the contrary, do not expect any on-premise ICT services to be available from 09:00 to 17:00. Cloud-based services (including Amathuba, email, Microsoft 365 services, and ServiceNow) are not impacted and can still be accessed.
In addition, the following buildings will intermittently lose network access between 07:00 and 09:00: 15 Osborne Road; 18 Rhodes Avenue; All Africa House; Avenue Road Residence; Ballet School; Glenara; Groote Schuur Hospital J-block (Psychiatry); Irma Stern Museum; Isaac Albow Building; Linkoping Staff Residence; Princess Christian Home; The Cottage; UCT Fitness Centre; and Welgelegen.
Please remember to consult the scheduled ICTS maintenance slots page 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. RADC webinar series to continue
The UCT’s Residence Academic Development Committee (RADC) will host a third webinar in the 2023 RADC Webinar Series on Monday, 18 September 2023, from 13:00 to 14:00 via Microsoft Teams.
Titled “A Guide to Investigating Career Options and Alternatives, Building a Professional Network, and Preparing for Job Interviews”, the webinar will be presented by Megan Blacker from UCT’s Careers Service.
Launched on 17 May 2023, the webinar series has become a popular online learning community for students to gain knowledge and for faculty members to share their expertise and wisdom with students.
5. UCT to host Student Entrepreneurship Week 2023 and EDHE Entrepreneurship Intervarsity
The UCT entrepreneurship ecosystem will be abuzz with opportunities and engagements from 18 to 26 September 2023, with two events held on campus.
UCT student entrepreneurs who want to be their own bosses or create opportunities for others will have an opportunity to engage with like-minded individuals at the Student Entrepreneurship Week 2023 (#SEW2023) from 18 to 26 September 2023. The #SEW2023 is an opportunity for students to fine-tune their entrepreneurial mindset. UCT’s Careers Service – in partnership with the GSB Solutions Space, d-School Afrika, and Research Contracts and Innovation – is excited to engage with student entrepreneurs in venues across campus as part of the #SEW2023 programme.
The programme includes entrepreneurship-focused workshops on communication and social responsiveness; a platform for student entrepreneurs to sell their products and services at the entrepreneurship marketplace; and an opportunity to start their design thinking journey with d-School Afrika while engaging with Standard Bank on SME support and finance.
Meanwhile, UCT will host the Western Cape regional round of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Entrepreneurship Intervarsity on Tuesday, 19 September 2023 at the d-School Afrika. An initiative of the EDHE programme, the purpose is to identify top student entrepreneurs at the 26 public universities, showcase their businesses and prompt investment. UCT, along with Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Stellenbosch University and University of the Western Cape, will go head-to-head for a place in the national competition in November.
Participating teams were selected during internal competitions at their institutions. They entered one of the five categories: New Business Ideas; Existing Business: Tech; Social Impact; General; and Research-Based Business. The latter is a recently introduced category designed to encourage the commercialisation of student and staff research.
6. LinkedIn Learning and Gartner available to staff and students
UCT offers access to a range of leading online learning resources, including LinkedIn Learning and Gartner, empowering staff and students to realise their full potential.
LinkedIn Learning offers various courses covering business, technology, creative skills, personal development and more. These expert-led courses, which are accessible via dynamic video content and interactive exercises, are available 24/7 across multiple devices. Similarly, Gartner provides diverse, expert-led resources – including courses and webinars – that offer timely insights and best practices in technology, business and leadership, equipping participants with the tools to drive innovation in a rapidly changing landscape.
Both services cultivate continuous learning, equipping individuals to lead and contribute adeptly in their respective fields and institutions through ongoing professional advancement.
These online resources are available to all UCT staff and students. Visit the ICTS website to find out how to access your LinkedIn Learning account and how to access Gartner at UCT.
7. Reminder: Drupal 7 to be shut down
The Drupal development and migration project has successfully migrated more than 290 websites onto Drupal 9. The majority of these sites are now live, with the remaining few sites to be completed over the next few weeks.
The Drupal 9 project upgraded the official web content management system – Drupal 7 – to the latest, more secure and user-friendly version, Drupal 9. Please take note that Drupal 7 will officially be decommissioned on 30 September 2023. Any websites still hosted on this outdated system will no longer be accessible after this date.
If you are planning to create any new website, you are requested that it be launched on or after 1 October 2023. Please note that Drupal 9 training is now offered via SuccessFactors.
If you have any concerns, questions, or would like more information on this project or on Drupal, please contact Rethea Deetlefs.
8. Reminder: University of the Future call for ideas
The University of the Future (UoF) project steering committee invites all staff and students to submit ideas to contribute towards shaping UCT’s developmental strategic roadmap. This is an exciting opportunity to rethink, redesign and realign UCT’s current spaces and services to be fit for purpose and fit for the future.
The guidelines, requirements, themes and eligibility criteria can all be found on the UoF challenge ideas webpage. The committee is on a university wide roadshow until October 2023 to assist colleagues and students with conceptualising their ideas.
Ideas should be submitted by Tuesday, 31 October 2023.
- Learn more about the UoF call for ideas.
- Read the full Campus Announcement: University of the Future: call for ideas.
9. Reminder: Call for proposals: naming of university spaces
The University Naming Committee (UNC) invites all members of the UCT community to submit proposals for new names or suggestions and motivations for a revision of existing names of the university’s physical and virtual spaces.
All members of the university community are strongly encouraged to contribute their perspectives and ideas to help shape the future identity of the institution.
Submissions should be sent via email by Wednesday, 4 October 2023. Late submissions will not be considered.
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