On Campus issue 7 August 2013

on Campus Issue 7 • August 2013 • For daily updates visit www.uwc.ac.za

Inside New Hope Summit page 3

Annual SA Aids Conference page 5

African Moot Court Competition: UWC Participants page 11

Kings of UWC page 15

Your Source for University News

UWC partners with DTI for new degree programme in local economic development

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trategically, small businesses are critical to the development of the country, and a new degree programme focusing on local business development, offered by the University of the Western Cape (UWC), will unlock opportunities at municipality level.

So predicted Minister of Trade & Industry, Rob Davies, at the official launch of the new Bachelor of Economics: Local Economic Development degree (BEcon: LED) at UWC. More than 30 students have already applied for the course. The degree is offered in collaboration with the national Department of Trade & Industry and the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

“How do we identify business opportunities which will bring development if we don’t empower our municipalities?” Davies asked.

“This degree will help the municipalities with much-needed skills and expertise, and thereby contribute to our goals as a nation.”

He added that industrial de-centralisation is important to the development of the country and that the pool of expertise that will come out of the course will be used fruitfully in this regard.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at UJ, Professor Angina Parekh, commended the UWC leadership for its commitment to the development and rollout of the course.

“Skills shortage will be a challenge to the realisation of the goals of the National Development Plan,” said Parekh. “UWC leadership must be commended for their hard work in the development of this degree.”

(From left) Minister of Trade & Industry, Rob Davies, and Prof Brian O’Connell, UWC Rector and VC, at the launch of the BEcon: LED degree at UWC. Acting Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at UWC, Professor Michelle Esau, spoke of UWC’s ambitions to engage with its community; “through the development of the new degree, the University has done exactly that”, she said.

She also spoke of the need to be competitive and strive for excellence in the market, whatever that market might be.

“Collaborative partnerships are

necessary to address and overcome the social ills left behind by apartheid,” Esau said.

“Education is a case in point.”

The new degree springs from just such a collaboration, she added, and the partnership has contributed to a programme that sets out to equip students with professional knowledge and skills that should make them more employable and marketable in the future.

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Universities as placemakers in cities

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niversities are good strategic partners for cities, as they are anchors in the urban landscape. We need to build inclusive and synergistic relationships between the four universities, regional authorities and the City.”

So said keynote speaker, Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, at the workshop titled UniverCity Dialogues: The role of universities as placemakers, hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the members of the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC)/ Western Cape Government Joint Task Team at UWC last month. Pandor’s words served as a refrain for the workshop, hosted in collaboration with UWC’s Institutional Planning Office and the Cities in Transition Research project, based in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at UWC. In his opening, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, thanked CHEC and members of the Joint Task Team for the initiative, lauding their ambitions to strengthen knowledge partnerships for regional development. “The purpose of these dialogues is to discuss the role of universities as placemakers and to draw from the diverse knowledge of leaders, people of influence and people with decision-making responsibilities to imagine and envision new possibilities for the city,” he explained.

In her keynote address, Pandor emphasised that universities have a key role to play in society, and yet many decision-makers fail to realise their importance. “In the Western Cape, we have done well in regional development and we must acknowledge that universities occupy a special space in regional economies. In addition to being landowners, employers and procurers of services, they also attract scientists and scholars to their regions.”

The presentations by the five panellists and the discussion that followed reflected on a range of university/city engagements.

Dr Laurine Platzky, Deputy Director-General: Governance and Integration in the Department of the Premier of the Western Cape, began her talk with a reflection on the location of UWC and her involvement in what was called the Modderdam ‘squatter camp’ resistance while still a student in the 1970s. She noted that the range of sites of the universities in the Western Cape, marked by different histories, present distinct opportunities for new forms of collaborative planning and development.

Platzky, along with Professor Uma Mesthrie of UWC’s Department of History and Bonita Bennett, director of the District Six Museum, reminded the audience of the complicated histories of apartheid urban planning, removals and dispossession that continue to affect the everyday lives of many Capetonians.

Professor Michiel Dehaene, of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Ghent in Belgium as well as an architect and urban planner with extensive involvement in practice and academia, cautioned against the international trend of project-led urban development and regeneration ideas. He argued that the proliferation of these consultant-driven processes often thwart planning and suggested that universities should provide cities with long-term partners for sustainable development.

Timothy M Wolfe, president (rector) of the University of Missouri’s (MU) four-campus system, speaking from his extensive

Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor, was one of the speakers at UniverCity Dialogues, a workshop that focused on universities as ‘placemakers’. experience as a business leader and head of MU, complemented Pandor on her approach of connecting universities with their surrounding communities. He noted that the University of Missouri, Kansas City, shares common challenges with UWC. “The key to success for universities across the world is partnership with their communities,” Wolfe said. “Universities cannot be successful without forging partnerships in government, the business sector and the community.”

Bennett reminded the audience that universities are not the only sites of knowledge production. She also expressed her pleasure with Pandor’s reference to placemaking as a practice that should not be exclusive, but that it rather involves the participation of the poor in society. “New associations need to be developed so that marginalised people can be included. Universities are the key to this, and can help many.”

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Western Cape students take responsibility for education

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tudent power” took on a new meaning when students from higher education institutions in the Western Cape gathered at Muizenberg’s False Bay College for the 2013 New Hope Summit, where they deliberated on issues affecting students at the various campuses.

Hosted by False Bay College on 3 and 4 August 2013, the New Hope Summit is an annual event dating back to 2010. That year, a group from Stellenbosch University (SU) initiated discussions with fellow students, staff from Stellenbosch’s Student Affairs Department, and representatives from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) about the roles that students can play in shaping society.

The Summit has grown since 2010, and this year included student leadership from UWC, hosts False Bay College, Boland College, CPUT, Northlink College, SU, UCT and West Coast College. Under the theme Collaborations and Partnerships Between Institutions of Higher Learning in Advocating for Students’ Rights and Responsibilities, the students discussed issues pertaining – but not limited – to student fees, accommodation, and the role of the Student Representative Council (SRC), and sought ways to improve these at their respective institutions.

Debate and team work characterised the day,

Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana, praised student leadership for establishing the New Hope Summit, a platform at which to discuss students’ roles in the development of society and higher education. and the compilation of a Charter of Students’ Rights would be the cherry on top of what was a fruitful event.

The arrival of the Deputy Minister for Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana, reaffirmed the seriousness and the relevance of the Summit.

Manana told the gathering that the Summit and its theme spoke directly to his department’s goal of forging partnerships

among institutions of higher learning and collaboration in areas of strategic importance.

This includes engagement on curricula and programmes that “facilitate mutual development and the articulation of students”, he said.

“This summit, therefore, ladies and gentlemen, is a remarkable contribution to what the Department and our Government would want to achieve. It assures Government of the correctness of our imperative to transform education as a tool to uplift and imbue a new national spirit in South Africa.”

Among the hot-button topics on the table was financial aid for those students who are unable to finance their own studies. In response, Manana pointed out that his department had in 2012 provided financial assistance through the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to 188,183 college students. This was 6,671 more students than the previous year. This year, an amount of R1.988 billion had been set aside to support 222,817 FET college students alone.

He added that NSFAS student loans to university students had increased from R2.2 billion in 2010, benefitting 148,387 students, to R3.693 billion in 2013 targeting 210,000 students.

Manana praised the students who had initiated the Summit, saying it showcased the leadership qualities developed at these institutions.

UWC lauds open access in society

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haring is an instinctive human drive.

So argued Professor Brian O’Connell, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, when the University recently hosted the first of a series of discussions that will culminate in signing the international Berlin Declaration to Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities in October this year. “Why do we share? Because we are human! We have a common purpose, needs, challenges and asymmetrical distribution of knowledge and skills. We have humanity, empathy, justice, consciousness,” said O’Connell at the meeting, titled Universities Serving Society.

The Dean of Research, Professor Renfrew Christie, reminded the audience that academics are not the only people who care about what goes on in universities. And that, he explained, is what open access and the Berlin Declaration – the landmark agreement that outlines the ways

the internet can be used to disseminate global knowledge – will allow. Open access is achieved through depositing peer-reviewed research papers in repositories or through publication in open access journals; the research is then free for all to view and use, not just those who have paid for journal subscriptions or whose libraries have allowed them access.

In his talk, O’Connell explored humankind’s insatiable intellectual curiosity about the world – a curiosity that has inspired great intellectual leaps and revolutions.

The Rector explained that science is perhaps humanity’s greatest collaborative achievement, allowing humans to develop its understanding and technologies. “What makes science special is that scientists build on the knowledge of others,” O’Connell said. By sharing and testing ideas – Newton building on Galileo building on Copernicus – scientists have achieved great things.

UWC’s Dean of Research, Prof Renfrew Christie, reminds an audience of academics that open access allows people on the outside to know what universities are researching.

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UWC lecturers discuss effective teaching and learning

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ver 2008 and 2012, the proportion of students who feel they made the right decision by studying at the University of the Western Cape has increased significantly.

In addition, more students felt that their lecturers cared about their welfare and progress. Unfortunately, they also reported that they didn’t receive adequate feedback on tasks, and that student evaluations were not used effectively.

This was but some of the feedback from student surveys conducted in 2008 and 2012, designed to inform the University’s strategic plan on teaching and learning, as well as on graduate attributes. So reported Professor Vivienne Bozalek, director of Teaching and Learning; Derek Hu of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences; and Professor Tamara Shefer of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, at the Teaching and Learning Colloquium hosted by the Directorate of Teaching and Learning.

“Institutions may not intentionally exclude students,” said Bozalek, “but that doesn’t mean that they are including them as fully valued members of the institution.”

The colloquium showcased the work that teaching and learning (T&L) grant holders had been doing in their departments.

Lecturers from different faculties and departments discussed topics such as authentic learning, community engagement, gender and learning, and the challenge of adopting new teaching approaches and technologies. And how these themes shape graduate attributes such as critical thinking and an understanding of conducting research.

In her keynote address titled Designing Inclusive Technology Enhanced Learning Initiatives, Professor Denise Woods, Extraordinary Professor in UWC’s Faculty of Education, explored how technology can be used to complement older styles of teaching, and the difference between using technology for its own sake and actually doing something new with it.

“Inclusive education is not just about epistemological access – it’s about challenging our assumptions,” Woods said.

Denise Woods, Extraordinary Professor in UWC’s Faculty of Education, explores the effective use of technology to enhance learning.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, Prof Ramesh Bharuthram, urged graduates to further their education and strengthen their efforts against substance abuse.

UWC takes fight against drugs to new level

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he University of the Western Cape (UWC) continues to lead the way in the development of new knowledge relevant to social needs, as it has again illustrated through the design of eight new courses that aim to fight substance abuse in South African communities.

At the request of the Provincial Government of the Western, UWC was invited in 2011 to develop a proposal that addressed the lack of training in communities, especially those contending with substance abuse. In response, eight short courses that focused on substance abuse were developed and registered with UWC’s Division for Lifelong Learning.

On 23 July 2013, the first cohort of approximately 40 community members working within substance abuse organisations completed the courses. Attending the certificate handover were DVC: Academic, Professor Ramesh Bharuthram, and MEC for Social Development, Albert Fritz.

Bharuthram praised the graduates for their commitment and praised them for their association with UWC. “You should be proud of this institution, because not only has it made it possible for this course to exist, but it was very instrumental in the development of the Constitution,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the provincial government, MEC Fritz commended UWC for the effort and expertise that went into the development of the course. He also challenged the graduates to make a difference in their communities with their newly acquired skills.

“This is your opportunity to help significantly in the community, especially in the fight against substance abuse. This course is an additional strength to our own efforts. You guys are now better equipped to do what you have always done, so we are here to salute all of you.”

The process for next year’s intake is already underway.

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Top BCB students pick up awards

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he cream of the undergraduate crop in the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology (BCB) were fêted in July for their outstanding academic performances in 2012.

13 undergraduate students (both those on extended and mainstream programmes) received awards from the Botanical Society of South Africa. These awards included a one-year subscription to the Society’s journal, Veld & Flora, and free admission to all nine of the country’s botanical gardens.

Two further awards were presented by the Zoological Society of Southern Africa (ZSSA) to the top students in zoology courses in 2012, prizes included award certificates, one-year subscriptions to the journal African Zoology, and a year’s free membership to the ZSSA. These went to Danny Walpole (thirdyear student) and Arshad Holliday (honours student).

Finally, the Grassland Society of Southern Africa awarded a certificate and a medal of achievement to Luke Gallant, the top third-year student in a botanically-related subject in 2012.

Professor Gavin Maneveldt, Head of Department in BCB (and Deputy Dean: Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Natural Sciences), presented the awards, and congratulated the students on their performances. He urged the students, already among “the brightest and best”, to attain even greater results.

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology HoD, Prof Gavin Maneveldt, hands Luke Gallant an award from the Grassland Society of South Africa for his achievements in a third-year botany module.

SA AIDS Conference: Health experts build on successes

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everal staff members from the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) School of Public Health (SoPH) joined South Africa’s leading health experts and activists for the 6th Annual South African AIDS Conference, held in Durban from 18 to 21 June 2013.

The conference, themed Building on Successes: Integrating systems, provided an opportunity for participants to showcase the contributions they are making to tackle the epidemic. Researchers released their latest findings, advocacy groups discussed interventions to improve health outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS, and a wide range of presentations and posters spanned the breadth of HIV topics, from social and economic to medical issues.

SoPH director, Helen Schneider, co-convened the track titled Health Systems, Programmes, Human Rights and Ethics, and chaired a panel discussion on 2+million on Treatment: What enabled this success in a troubled health system?

Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS (CRHA) director, Christina Zarowsky, chaired

a panel on Particularly Vulnerable Populations, with the help of CRHA sabbaticant Sally Guttmacher and postdoctoral fellow Joshua Ariansola. CRHA extraordinary professors Debra Jackson and Tanya Doherty also contributed presentations at the conference, as did doctoral student Emma Chademana, and the School of Nursing’s Mary Modeste and Million Bimerew (both previous attendees of CRHA writing retreats).

Much attention was paid to the structural drivers and social determinants of both ill health in general and HIV in particular. Delegates also discussed matters such as the drug supply challenge (especially in the Eastern Cape), the

need for flexible approaches and simple models, and how the use of technology has helped strengthen the health system’s performance. The conference also discussed effective innovations in service organisations, such as how decentralisation of care has helped the health system cope with the increased patient load.

The key theme emerging from the conference was that strengthening the health system involves reinforcing many complex and interlocking systems, that building capacity in the health workforce requires a combination of approaches, and that intersectoral collaboration is vital for a wellfunctioning health system. Many speakers also emphasised the need to strengthen community systems and social engagement.

“It is time for us to build on all our successes as we tackle TB and HIV co-infections and move to the next phase of conquering TB and HIV & AIDS,” said conference chair, Associate Professor Koleka Misana, head of the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

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Gender Equity Unit honours selfless service

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he fight for women’s and gender equity issues is as alive today as it was some 20 years ago, and the Gender Equity Unit (GEU) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) continues to take a vanguard position in leading the effort.

At a celebratory gathering held on 20 July at UWC’s Centre for Performing Arts, opened by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, to mark the GEU’s 20th anniversary, volunteers and partners of the Unit were presented with certificates of appreciation and words of encouragement.

The Unit has grown significantly since it was established in 1993 amid – and in response to – very disconcerting conditions. Men generally earned more than women at the time, women did not receive housing subsidies, there was no maternity leave for women, they had few promotion opportunities, women could not go on sabbatical, and all the professors were male, with white men holding the most senior positions.

Head of the GEU, Mary Hames, and the head of Women and Gender Studies at UWC, Professor Desiree Lewis, spoke about the history of the Unit and how consistent intellectual feminist activism ensured change

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and transformation over the two decades.

“We have had some trying times but we have also had some good times here,” said Hames.

She noted pivotal contributions from the likes of the late Jean Benjamin, Althea McQueen and Rita Edwards, among many others. The Unit also commemorated the work of UWC’s first Gender Equity Officer, Rhoda Kadalie, and that of Shirley Walters, who raised R300,000 from the Ford Foundation to kickstart the GEU. Also at the celebrations were stalwarts such as Glynis Rhode and Vinola Makan, who organised the first women’s volunteer programme called Kopanang, and representatives from partner organisations also attended the event.

Vincent Daniels of the Cape Town Society for the Blind praised the Unit for its admirable contribution to society.

“My organisation fought and continues to fight for the realisation of equality for the people with disabilities and Mary (Hames) and her Unit have always been there with us,” said Daniels.

The GEU’s Programme Coordinator, Maria van Staden, presented certificates to those who were honoured, and announced the launch of a new forum, Friends of the GEU, which will

Henriette Weber (left) of the Centre for Performing Arts receives a certificate of appreciation from Maria van Staden. work to further advance the efforts of the GEU. Van Staden encouraged those in attendance to support the forum and said more would be revealed about the forum on the GEU’s social media channels (Facebook and Twitter).

UWC academic integrity campaign helps students succeed honestly

he University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Department of Legal Services named Helen Fortuin and Olga Truter as the inaugural winners of the new Most Vigilant Invigilator award, recognising their sterling work over the May/June examinations.

The award springs from the department’s Academic Integrity Campaign, which started in 2011 and has steadily shown positive results. This innovative campaign is a combination of focusing attention on and applauding the honest students who work with integrity while increasing vigilance to prevent the few students who may want to cheat from engaging in such dishonest conduct.

Conceptually, the campaign is designed as a proactive measure, meant to augment the University’s student disciplinary processes.

The campaign was motivated by the need

(From left) Edward Charles, Helen Fortuin, Karen Mentoor, Olga Truter and Director of Legal Services, Shervaan Rajie, at the awards presentation. to maintain the integrity of the University’s academic assessment exercises, discourage dishonest conduct during examinations, assignments, theses and/or dissertations. At

UWC, most students work with integrity and the campaign aims to maintain that.

One of the positive results of this campaign is the reduction in the number of students found to be cheating during examinations in 2013. Over the past two years, the Proctor’s Office received an average of 16 cases each semester out of a student population in excess of 19,000 students. During the first semester of 2013, the number of exam dishonesty cases dropped to only eight, which represents a reduction of 50%. This is a very encouraging sign.

The future of the campaign will see the Proctor’s Office embark on road shows to all the University’s faculties, and the campaign’s focus will be expanded to include plagiarism.

Other platforms utilised for purposes of raising awareness include the University’s annual Orientation Programme in January.

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UWC Going Google: A new digital era

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WC’s migration from Groupwise to Gmail as an email service is an exciting prospect – but the ICS team made the move even more memorable at their Google Launch Celebration in the UWC Student Centre on 30 July.

MC Bradley Knight, Senior Digital Media Developer Digital at UWC and Good Hope FM DJ, oversaw two hours of lunchtime fun – and perhaps a bit of lecture time for some – in a venue jam-packed with students (and funloving staff).

Fellow Good Hope FM DJ LuWayne Wonder was on the decks, providing crowd-pleasing music that kept the Student Centre pumping – with the help of the jazz band from the UWC Centre for the Performing Arts (CPA), who provided a more classical feel to their performances. The CPA also had a few of their Foxtrot Studio dancers present, who showed off their agility and skill with quicksteps, cha-chas and (naturally) foxtrots. World champion breakdancing crew Ubuntu B-Boys demonstrated some intricate moves as well, as did the UWC Cheerleaders.

Videos explaining the function and benefits of Google’s various products were broadcasted on the massive screen brought in for the occasion, and prizes were raffled off (the ICS Team had been handing out tickets all morning), with Google goodie bags containing gifts such as water bottles, t-shirts, caps, calculators, Shoprite vouchers and more.

UWC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, Professor Ramesh Bharuthram, explained the benefits the move would bring: a new Gmail address (WhoeverYouAre@myuwc.ac.za), using one of the world’s most popular email providers; access to the full range of Google Apps products (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Google+ and more); and access to 30GB of online storage to divide up among those apps.

“Today you young men and women take your destiny in your hands,” said Bharuthram.

“In terms of your studies and your research work, the internet is yours. The world is yours. It’s a unique privilege. Use it, don’t abuse it – and good luck.”

“You and I are living in a very extraordinary time in South Africa,” said ICS Director, Mervyn Christoffels, who was instrumental in making the move possible. “At no other time have we had the rate of change

Mitchell’s Plain’s own world champion breakdance crew, the Ubuntu B-Boys, showing off a few moves at UWC’s Google Launch. and advancement in technology that we have today. And that rate of change is accelerating. That is why we are trying to develop an environment that will help us improve access to education and the quality of education at UWC. “The Google migration is just the start of what we’re calling the digital revolution at UWC. We are doing all we can to modernise this campus, to update processes and technologies, to ensure that when you (students) leave us you are ready to join our knowledge-based society, and that you are ready to participate in an economy strongly influenced by technology.”

These sentiments were echoed by Denis Fry, operations manager at the Grove Group, the cloud-based computing solutions company that is managing the migration and helping ICS cater to the University’s Google needs.

“This university is taking a big step forward,” he said. “And this invaluable technology that you will be using will help you develop important skillsets for the job market.”

With the speeches out of the way, it was time for the main attraction of the day: a performance by up-and-coming South African singing sensation Jimmy Nevis, performing some of his most popular songs to the great appreciation of the crowd. Audience participation was encouraged, and many students took the opportunity to take a few

pictures with the singer, before he had to depart (as a student himself, there’s always something that needs to be done).

But the fun didn’t stop with Nevis’ departure, with DJ LuWayne Wonder once more bringing the beats and leading the gathered students in an official UWC rendition of the Harlem Shake – and the best shakers being rewarded with yet more goodies.

The Google migration began with the Faculty of Dentistry, who moved over in the first weeks of August. The CHS Faculty migration has also been completed. The Faculty of Education migration will be completed in September, with the Faculties of Law, Arts, Natural Sciences and Economic and Management Sciences to follow, in that order.

The Centre for the Performing Arts has a two-fold vision of being a Centre for Higher Learning, as well as for establishing a presence in local communities where talented young musicians will be given the opportunity to receive instrumental tuition from highly skilled and qualified professional musicians.

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The Western Cape CoLabs team gearing up for the 2013 CodeJam challenge.

Youth challenged to create new apps

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obile applications – or apps – have been all the rage over the past few years, with billions downloaded onto millions of smart phones and tablets worldwide. While many of these are considered trivial, others have world-changing potential. All it takes is the right idea – and the skills to take that idea and develop and market the right app from it.

CodeJam 2013 aims to give young entrepreneurs (specifically those between the ages of 18 and 25 who are not permanently employed) the skills needed to develop an amazing, innovative idea and translate that into a mobile app. Participants in the CodeJam competition will receive technical, ideation and entrepreneurial instruction through August

and September, and will then be required to conduct their own research and use these skills to develop Apps that Matter, addressing specific social challenges that have been identified by the CodeJam 2013 stakeholder group.

The most exciting, life-changing ideas and apps will win prizes including brand new mobile devices (Apple and Android alike), internships at various technology-related businesses, sponsored business trips to Durban and Johannesburg. Furthermore, any app completed will belong to the CodeJammer (or team) who created it, so whether they are presented with prizes or not, every participant has the chance to win big in the future.

CodeJam 2013, now in its second year, is one of several national initiatives aimed at

enhancing the digital competence of South Africa at large. The programme is focused on developing young, local talent in the mobile apps space. It aims to build capacity in both apps development and the appropriation of mobile technology that can address South Africa’s particular socio-economic challenges, and meet local needs with a distinctly South African flavour.

The CodeJam competition is a collaborative initiative between the Western Cape CoLab, Kujali Innovation Hub from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Apps Hub, the City of Cape Town, Business Connection (BCX), Cape Activa (City of Cape Town), mobileUbiquity HervNet, Core Group, GTP, Immedia and Primedia Digital.

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Community & Health Sciences

Erasmus Mundus sends top SA scholars to Europe

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undreds of students, staff and dignitaries attended a daylong pre-departure conference and special dinner at the University of the Western Cape in July, a meeting that served as an adieu to the Erasmus Mundus grantees who head for Europe soon.

The European Union’s (EU) Erasmus Mundus (EM) Programme aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarships and academic cooperation between Europe and the rest of the world.

It does so by, among other initiatives, supporting joint partnership programmes for master’s and doctorate degrees between European and non-European higher education institutions, and funding students from these countries to study at European universities. The three EM consortia involved in the programme for 2013 are led by the University of Antwerp, KU Leuven University, in Belgium and the University of Groningen, Netherlands.

A total of 129 postgraduates and staff from universities across South Africa were selected for the programme for the 2013/2014 academic year; 64 master’s degree candidates, 38 doctoral students and 27 staff members will serve as ambassadors to Europe for 2013.

Of these, 21 grantees are based at UWC. (Over the previous three years, over 18 UWC staff members and students have benefited from Erasmus Mundus grants.)

Opening the meeting, UWC’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, Professor Ramesh Bharuthram, explained the importance of the Erasmus Mundus Programme to South Africa, a country where research output has stagnated, rates of tertiary education completion are low, and much of the academic population is aging.

“These challenges require out-of-the box thinking to establish a critical mass of South Africans with the capacity to engage in critical thinking,” Bharuthram said.

Dr Berene Kramer, a member of the European Union delegation to South Africa and the person ultimately in charge of the Erasmus Mundus project in South Africa, explained the value of being part of the programme.

European Union Ambassador Roeland van de Geer, head of the EU delegation, described Europe’s long and complicated relationship with Africa and with South Africa, and the EU’s desire to see in South Africa a happy, prosperous trading partner and ally. “The

Dr Berene Kramer, a member of the European Union delegation in charge of the Erasmus Mundus project in South Africa, talks about the origins of the programme.

Erasmus Mundus programme is one of a suite of important initiatives to make that desire a reality,” he said.

At the event, three Erasmus Mundus students shared their aspirations as grantees.

Khaya Hamano thanked UWC for preparing him for his stay in the Czech Republic, where he will complete his doctorate in education.

Lovelyn Ndaweni described how her 10-month master’s programme in peace and politics at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, will give her the chance to learn more about foreign affairs and policy.

UWC master’s student Ashley Muller, who will work on his master’s in molecular and cellular biophysics in Belgium, explained that the opportunity “means the world” to him.

For more information please contact Professor Lorna Holtman, the UWC co-ordinator for Erasmus Mundus Action 2, at 021 959 9286 or via lholtman@uwc.ac.za .

One hundred and twenty-nine postgraduate students and staff from universities across South Africa were selected to study in Europe as part of the Erasmus Mundus programme.

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Community Health Sciences

Developing good practices of leadership

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n July, the University of the Western Cape hosted the beginning of a major African initiative to build leadership capacity in Health Policy and Systems Research and Analysis (HPSR+A).

Professional educators and researchers from five African universities and research institutes gathered at UWC’s School of Public Health (SoPH) for the launch of the Emerging Leaders Programme of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA).

The programme began with a capacitybuilding workshop, titled Developing the Practices of Leadership, from 1 to 7 July.

The 26 participants from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa were asked to identify a health policy and systems research or leadership issue that they would like to work on. Facilitated sessions then aimed to build their leadership capabilities, and improve their communication and time management skills.

Two SoPH staff members took part in the CHEPSAA workshop: Verona Matthews and Woldekidan Amde, both PhD candidates working on Health Policy and Systems Research and Analysis (HPSR+A). “It was such an exciting and rewarding experience,” reflected Amde.

“I have gained so much insight as to how

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Professional educators and researchers from five African universities attended the launch of the Emerging Leaders Programme of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA) at the School of Public Health. to further develop myself in the realms of management and leadership, and managed to establish a sense of comradeship with a group of very energetic and resourceful people.”

CHEPSAA is a unique initiative that seeks to contribute to the goal of building a critical mass of African researchers in the field of HPSR+A. A second capacity-building workshop will be held next year. The programme will culminate in a third and final event linked to the 3rd

Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Cape Town in September 2014, where participants will put into practice some of the core capabilities developed over the course of the programme.

Lecturer shares online tips

t the University of the Western Cape to view the developments as the students update (UWC), as at any institution, lecturers teach them online. At the end of the semester, final-year (of course), but they also learn. Social students will also be able to share their online work lecturer Dr Anna-Marie Beytell, who portfolios with prospective employees. recently learnt of the power of online e-portfolios, Beytell first learned about the relevance of online passed on her newly acquired knowledge to her e-portfolios at a workshop offered by UWC’s Centre students. for Innovative Educational and Communication On 15 July 2013, 61 fourth-year social work Technologies (CIECT) in June. “The students view students attended Beytell’s workshop on e-portfolios this as a cost-effective and time-saving tool,” Beytell – in simple terms, an electronic and multimedia explains, “because they don’t have to come to the portfolio of a student’s work – in the Cassinga Walk-in University to print their documents each week for Social Work lecturer Dr Anna-Marie Lab. The workshop allowed students to create their supervision on a Friday – they are in the field from Beytell believes that technologyown online e-portfolio sites, to structure webpages Monday to Thursday and work as interns, so their enhanced teaching empowers and according to a template Beytell provided, to add schedules are packed”. enlightens students. their own profile information, and to upload files A follow-up workshop will be conducted with that highlight the challenges and benefits of their the students to teach them to make use of more fieldwork. advanced features of the tool, such as audio recordings, embedded video Students will share their portfolios with their lecturer, who will be able clips, and creating and sharing PowerPoint slides and Word documents.

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11

Law

(From left) Rebecca Sibanda and Boipelo Ndlovu represented UWC at the 22nd African Human Rights Moot Court Competition, which took place at the University in September.

African Moot Court comes to UWC

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he much-anticipated African Human Rights Moot Court Competition was hosted by the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape from 1 to 8 September.

The competition is heralded as the biggest tournament of its kind in Africa. Law students and academics from 80 universities, representing 49 countries, made the journey to Cape Town, which hosted the event for the first time. Established in 1992, the Moot has already drawn 1,093 teams from well over 130 universities.

UWC representives, Boipelo Ndlovu and Rebecca Sibanda, third and fourth-year law students, respectively, battled it out with over 1,000 students for bragging rights and the title of African champions. Both UWC participants come from families of legal practitioners; Ndlovu’s mother is a UWC law graduate, while Sibanda’s father is a

labour law consultant in her native country, Zimbabwe.

Though this was her first continental competition, Ndlovu, 20, said she felt upbeat about her chances. “I have done many internal rounds but I have never participated at this level,” she said. “I feel confident, though, because we have prepared ourselves well and I think we should do well.”

Ndlovu has the right pedigree to back her confidence. She is in the Top 50 programme of the Faculty of Law, which lists 400 of the faculty’s brightest minds, and has ambitions to make it onto the Dean’s Merit List.

Sibanda, 22, worked for her father after she completed high school, and her love for law grew from there. “I love a good debate.

I have entered the Moot three times before and I know that we will do a good job. No disrespect to other competitors, but I believe we will win this one,” she said smiling.

Sibanda was also confident in the capabilities of her rookie partner. “She is very articulate and is a formidable competitor in the internal rounds, so I think we will do well.”

Unfortunately, UWC finished 17th out of the 37 Anglophone teams and 22nd out of the 54 teams who took part in the competition.

Stellenbosch University was named the best Anglophone team in the preliminary rounds, while the universities of Kenya and Gambia were awarded second and third positions respectively. Kudakwashe Chitanga from the University of Zambia was named best individual oralist in the Anglophone category, while Sra Geogina Deodato was the best oralist in the Lusophone catergory. Mohammed Fofana from Lagoons ICSD University in the Ivory Coast was recognised as the best Francophone oralist. The University of Nairobi is set to host the 2014 African Moot Court competition.

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Arts

Speakers at the Cities on the Move conference, held at the Lagoon Beach Hotel last month.

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Cities on the move conference

he University of the Western Cape (UWC) and University of Witwatersrand (Wits) hosted the first International Conference on Cities on the Move: Mobilities and Sensibilities at the Lagoon Beach Hotel from 3-5 July. The conference was made possible by generous funding from the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) Foundation, and concluded a 10-year partnership with Belgium’s Ghent University on a programme of research titled Cities in Transition and Multilingual Citizenship.

Both established and emerging researchers from around the world were brought together for this conference, with participation of theorists and practitioners within a large spectrum of fields including architecture, anthropology, film, literature, cultural studies, visual art, history and urban studies, heritage, art and culture, linguistics and multilingual studies. The conference focused on city sensibilities and on everyday experiences, particularly approaching

the city as a social construction and as a social imaginary exploring the production, consumption and appropriation of urban spaces, circulation within them, and the semiotics, spectacle and performativity of the urban.

One of the intentions of the conference was that those studying cities in different parts of the world would be able to meet with African city specialists. Professor Alan Mabin, head of the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits and previously Professor of Public Development Management there, opened the conference with his paper, Cosmopolis in the South. Mabin said that cities across the south are on the move. His address was primarily concerned with the intellectual discourses of the city.

The study eclectically surveyed contemporary city encounters and sought to explore them in relation to prominent tropes of urban theory, both western and southern.

Professor Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, of UWC’s Department of History, delivered a paper

titled Speaking about Rylands: A former Group Area on the Cape Flats. DhupeliaMesthrie pointed out that Rylands has not been given any significant attention in Cape Town’s historiography – and has been the subject of only two unpublished theses, both completed more than 30 years ago in 1980.

Her paper focused on the lives of the people who were relocated to Rylands, and explored the impact of apartheid on this community.

Commenting on the establishment of Rylands, Dhupelia-Mesthrie stated that “Many of the stores, homes and Indian temples that we see in the area have been built by the people from here, and here is a great amount of history”.

The conference highlighted the case for the sensibilities and emotional geographies of city space (fear, apprehension, and their modes of narration and performance), as well as the semiotics and performance of violence and contestation in urban spaces, feelings in and out of place in the daily (re)making and meaning(s) of the city.

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13

Arts

Feast of world films at UWC

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tudents and lovers of documentary films from across the Western Cape were spoilt for choice when the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) English Department hosted the Cape Town leg of the African World Documentary Film Festival (AWDFF) over July and August. Apart from Cape Town, the festival was also hosted in several other cities around the world including St. Louis (USA), Kingston (Jamaica), Yaounde (Cameroon), Philadelphia (USA), and London(UK). UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Brian O’Connell, the keynote speaker at the launch, praised the organisers, and said that he hoped the film festival will be the first of many to come. “It was clear to us from the start that the film festival was a good idea and we hope that this will not be the last,” he said. The AWDFF is considered as one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, and featured the screening of 26 films submitted from all over the world. The UWC leg of Among those who attended the launch of the AWDFF were (from left) the festival included the screening of 11 of the documentaries submitted Prof Niyi Coker Jr of the University of Missouri, St Louis; UWC’s Mark for the 2013 event. Each screening was followed by a brief discussion, and Espin; French filmmaker Joachim Landau; UWC’s Dr Roger Field; and UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research also hosted two in-depth seminars on documentary filmmaking.

Leolyn Jackson, director of International Relations at UWC.

French filmmaker supports UWC film festival

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cclaimed French film and documentary producer Joachim Landau has nothing but praise for South African filmmakers.

Speaking at the African World Documentary Film Festival (AWDFF), hosted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) from 24 July to 1 August, Landau described South Africa as a land filled with talented filmmakers. He wasn’t just being courteous; his documentary Voices, in which he had influential people in the South African film industry talk about the industry and its future, was screened at the festival.

The film provided a chance for these local producers, directors and distributors to speak openly about the industry, the problems it faces, its successes, distinguishing features and future.

Landau explained that it was always his intention to make a film about the South African film industry, even if he had to learn a few things about the country first. “At the start of my planning, I did not know a lot about South Africa, but my curiosity about this beautiful land inspired me to make this documentary,” he said.

Landau does not envision Voices to be his one and final project in the country. “I will come back because I want to make this a tradition. I want to show the French what South Africa is about, and cross the barriers between the two filmmaking countries.”

Right now Landau has a couple of projects in the pipeline.

But he hopes to soon attract South African filmmakers to France to make movies there, “as I know South Africa has an abundance of talented people”.

French filmmaker Joachim Landau talked of his film Voices, following its screening at an international film festival at UWC.

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Arts

UWC launches Chamber Music Institute

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The Arianna String Quartet performed at the UWC Main Hall, marking the launch of the UWC Chamber Music Institute.

he University of the Western Cape recently marked two important musical milestones on just the right notes.

On 24 August, the University celebrated the launch of its new Chamber Music Institute and the reintroduction of accredited music courses to its curriculum with the world premiere of Concerto Grosso No 2 by Allan Stephenson, a UK-born composer now living in Cape Town, as performed by a string orchestra made up of American and local musicians.

That is a suitable honour for the Institute, which is taking an innovative approach to musical training. For one, its courses allow accomplished musicians without formal training to receive Recognition of Prior Learning when they register with the Institute. It also gives opportunities for students studying towards other degrees to obtain tuition and grading in music across intermediate and advanced levels.

To kickstart the Institute, the Arianna String Quartet (ASQ) of the University of Missouri, St Louis – with which UWC enjoys a 27-year partnership – spent three weeks working with music pupils at Good Hope Seminary High and Phandulwazi High. Members of the quartet also held workshops and masterclasses at institutions ranging from township schools to Stellenbosch University.

Many of the participants in these workshops formed part of the string orchestra that performed Stephenson’s Concerto, a composition especially commissioned by the UWC Centre for the Performing Arts (CPA), within which the Institute is housed.

Head of the CPA, Henriette Weber, said that there are many people who have the talent but lack the opportunity to receive accreditation.

The Institute has already signed up 25 students. It is amazing to see, noted Weber, people often playing music at levels far beyond their theoretical and music-reading training.

“We need to be relevant in a changing educational environment,” added John McGrosso, first violinist with the ASQ. His experience teaching in townships and universities has opened his eyes to the untapped musical talents in South Africa, McGrosso said. “The most powerful thing about being a teacher is seeing what the future has in store and it is a powerful thing to see what potential the people hold here.”

After three hard weeks of preparation with the ASQ, Yonela Ngungeni, workshop participant, grade 12 learner at Trafalgar High School and music student at the Beau Soleil Music Centre in Kenilworth, was still enthralled by the experience, describing it as “fun and amazing”.

For more information, please contact Weber on 021 959 2320 or on email at hweber@uwc.ac.za.

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15

Sport

Ricardo Rangasamy of ABSA congratulates the Love and Peace team for winning this year’s Kings of UWC Football tournament.

A Dream Killers player scores one of the many goals seen at this year’s event.

Zaheer Pertersen (second, left) charges an opponent in the final of the tournament.

Love and Peace were crowned champions of the Kings of UWC football tournament.

Kings of UWC connects alumni and students

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ike many participants, Zaheer Petersen took to this year’s Kings of UWC football tournament with enthusiasm and zeal.

But this University of the Western Cape alumnus was not only upbeat because he helped his team, Love and Peace, successfully defend their title when they demolished Octopus Prime 10-0 in the competition final.

More than that, it’s the growing popularity of the competition that pleases him.

The event, sponsored by ABSA and other organisations, is now in its fifth year. While on campus (he studied at UWC from 2007 to 2009), Petersen used to play football with his friends on an open space near the parking

area, but security guards would often chase them away. “It struck me that it would be ideal to have the field for a day and play,” Petersen recalls.

Five years on, the competition – now managed by the Alumni Relations Office within the Department for Institutional Advancement (IA), to whom Petersen first proposed the idea – is doing better than he could ever have imagined.

“The tournament is professionally run, better structured and is more appealing than before,” he says.

Today the event is a highlight on the University’s social calendar and brings together alumni and current students in the

spirit of football, and provides an opportunity to connect and reconnect in a fun way. This year, no fewer than 16 teams took part in the tournament.

Patricia Lawrence, Pro Vice-Chancellor for IA, lauded Kings of UWC as an event with a “noble intent which is setting an example to other alumni and groupings on how to support your alma mater”.

“This is an occasion for students and alumni to come together and stay together,” Lawrence said in her opening address.

As well-organised as the event is, Petersen believes Kings of UWC can get even bigger.

And maybe – his biggest ambition – it can even earn a slot on television.

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Sport

Cricket coach wants to bowl everyone over

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he University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Cricket Club is aiming for the top.

“It is our ultimate goal to win the University Sport South Africa (USSA) championships this year, and also to finish in the top three of the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) League 1A for both the one-day and two-day sections,” explains Andy Moles, former coach of the New Zealand national cricket side and now UWC head coach, his plans for the upcoming season.

The side had already achieved one of those goals last season.

Earlier this year UWC finished second – after third place in 2012 – in the WPCA 1A two-day competition, this after losing to the Western Province Cricket Club in the final match of the season.

They also came close to ticking the USSA-winning box before losing to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in last year’s university final.

Moles, naturally, is proud of the club’s and the first team’s performances throughout last season and across competitions. And especially of the five UWC players who were selected to represent the national student team that participated in the Cricket South Africa Cricket tournament in April, and went up against the likes of the South African Colts and under-19 sides.

This year, Moles wants the UWC side to clinch the deal at the USSA competition. “We will be extremely competitive this year and we are looking forward to the upcoming season,” he says.

He believes he has the right crop of players, and can attract even more if needed.

“I believe that our cricket programme here is the best in the Western Province and this is what helps us attract good cricketers,” he says.

The UWC Cricket team celebrates a wicket in their clash against the Western Province Cricket Club at the UWC Oval earlier this year. UWC lost the match and had to settle for second place in the Western Province 1A league, a position they want to improve on this season.

UWC Chess Club a force to be reckoned with

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he University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) chess team will muster all their smarts this coming December when they go up against the rest of the country in the University Sport South Africa (USSA) National Institutional Chess Championship, to be held at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria.

No longer a fringe event, chess has been identified as one of the priority sport codes in the country. The South African government sees chess as an important tool to imbue pupils and students with reasoning and thinking abilities, as well as to enhance their mathematical skills at tertiary level.

At UWC, the Chess Club has turned into a force to be reckoned with. The club has improved every year, recruiting players with great potential from surrounding schools, especially the Settlers High School.

In 2011 UWC Chess Club won the Overall Championships crown at the USSA tournament at Fort Hare University, and came second at last year’s championship at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. UWC’s standout performer has been dentistry student Siviwe Mazingi, named Female Player of the Tournament at both competitions.

UWC Sport Administrator Edwin Wyngaard reports that USSA Chess was named as part of Team South Africa that competed in the Universiade in Shenzhen, China, in 2011. The chess squad included a number of UWC players, but many could not go as the size of Team South Africa was cut due to financial constraints. The USSA Chess team did not win any medals or trophies, but were placed second (together with Botswana) behind Egypt from competing African countries.

UWC Chess Club is currently competing in the Western Province Chess Premier League.

UWC MEDIA OFFICE

Do you have any important UWC stories to share? Do you know of an event on campus that you’d like to see featured? Have you heard of UWC alumni who’ve done amazing things, which you think the world should know about? Or maybe you have a few suggestions, comments or questions about something in this newsletter? Whatever the case may be, the UWC Media Office would really like to hear from you.

Just email us on ia@uwc.ac.za , call us on 021 959 9566, or drop by our offices.

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