The Nelson Mandela University will put transformation at the forefront of its plans to honour former president and namesake Nelson Mandela – and to do this, a Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation will be launched next week.
The launch, which will take place on Tuesday, was announced on Thursday at the start of a two-day colloquium by the faculty of education.
University chancellor Dr Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said: “This is going to assist us considerably in furthering both our transformation and transformative agenda.”
The university would be devoting the next year to a centenary commemoration programme designed to bring the university closer to reaching Madiba’s goals for education and empowerment.
To this end, Fraser-Moleketi said the university was working towards establishing hubs of convergence.
The hubs were part of pledges made by vice-chancellor Professor Sibongile Muthwa during her inaugural speech in April.
During this speech, Muthwa said the hubs would be spaces for the university and community members to meet and find solutions to practical problems.
Fraser-Moleketi said: “A funding application to mobilise resources for the first of these, which will focus on enterprise development, has already been submitted to the Treasury.“Work is also being done to explore possibilities around enterprise development and job creation in township and rural economies with the national and the provincial government.”
Muthwa said on Thursday that the university’s efforts towards empowerment would extend to students as well.
“At the end of this month we will be hosting a Nelson Mandela Youth Convention, a national student leadership conference that will deliberate on the role and contribution of student activism to reshaping higher education.”
The university will also launch a legacy fund.
“[This will be used] to render support to deserving students in need of funding to top up books and other basic essentials.”
Beyond this, the programme will include academic events and partnerships by the university’s seven faculties.
“[Our] approach to the centenary is rooted firmly in our academic, scholarly and engagement enterprise, as we believe this is the best contribution we as a university can make in preserving and nurturing Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
“Locating our Mandela centenary programme in the academic enterprise resonates with the importance Mandela placed on education.”
The programme, started at the colloquium, will be followed by a conference on private law and social justice by the law faculty, as well as a conference titled “Being Human(e) in the 21st Century”, by the arts faculty.
Both of these will be held in August.
“The faculty programmes are complemented by a range of public lectures by notable South Africans.”
These included former public protector Thuli Madonsela, who spoke at the university on Thursday evening, as well as South African Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago and former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke.