As a business leader and a long-time Council member at the University of Cape Town (UCT), I am keenly aware of how important both excellence and stability are to an institution of higher learning. The decisions taken by UCT Council throughout 2022 have aimed to promote an environment where the academic project, including teaching and learning as well as research, could flourish, and in this way serve South Africa.

Addressing the historical fee debt that stands in the way of some students’ continued education is one of the long-term challenges faced by all universities across South Africa as we seek to help reduce poverty and inequality through education. As we did in 2021, Council lifted fee blocks on student registrations for 2022 in recognition of the economic hardships faced by many of our students and households. This decision applied to students who are South African citizens or permanent residents, or who are from other countries in Africa.

Our institution’s financial state of health is a critical part of Council’s business. In November 2022, Council convened a workshop to focus attention on this matter considering the critical issue of the 2023 budget in December. The challenge, as always, was to balance the range of financial demands that the university faces not only now but also in the foreseeable future, which is likely to be challenging for UCT and for the higher education sector as a whole.

Through the year, Council took decisions to help advance the progress of higher education at UCT, including:

• Approval of the admissions policies for undergraduate and postgraduate students respectively, as recommended by Senate and in fulfilment of higher education legislation. Entrance scholarships were also approved for postgraduate students for 2024.
• Support of a research investment proposal to strengthen areas within UCT that could increase research productivity and attract and retain academic research talent.
• Approval of the terms of reference for a Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee to assist Council in its oversight and governance role and to monitor and evaluate policies and practices that give expression to UCT’s ethical values and related culture and decision-making practices.
• Adoption of a resolution to establish an independent panel led by a retired judge to investigate possible irregularities in governance and leadership.
• Appointment of members to the selection committees for senior posts, including that of Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning; Executive Director: Human Resources; and Dean of Science.
• Approval of the Gifts and Hospitality Policy, which promotes transparency and probity in the conduct of the university’s business and helps to avoid conflicts of interest.
• A commitment in principle to create a sustainable environmental solution for the university, which includes mapping a way forward to reduce UCT’s carbon footprint, harness renewable energy and improve the waste-to-landfill index, as an important component of UCT’s Vision 2030 as well as our institutional transformation goals.
• In line with the above commitment, agreement to divest UCT immediately from internationally exposed fossil fuel investments and to invest in renewable energy and/or green economy, while working towards achieving an economic goal of being net-positive by 2030.
• Support of an information and communications technology (ICT) strategy to inter alia ensure capacity for a digitally enabled university community and to deliver ICT systems that are financially sustainable, in support of UCT’s core business and enabling systems.
• Approval of a 2022 out-of-cycle capital allocation in support of electrical infrastructure refinements to secure a loadshedding exemption for upper campus and the Health Sciences campus from the City of Cape Town.
• Approval of a proposed Lease to Own model to increase UCT’s student residence capacity to be able to accommodate a third of enrolled students by 2030, including a property acquisition in Salt River.
• Consideration of comments received in relation to the LGBTQI+ panel report of November 2021, especially with regard to existing university policies to address gender and sexual identity, bullying and sexual misconduct. Additional initiatives are in the pipeline to strengthen UCT’s institutional commitment to inclusivity, and these will be announced in due course.

Council’s decisions in 2022 follow our commitment to build a diverse and inclusive community across UCT and to advance the Vision 2030 strategy, by developing leaders in all disciplines who can work together to help address the needs of South Africa and the world. These goals promote not just the future of the university, but the future of our society.

Babalwa Ngonyama
Chair of Council