Achievements

Nazrana Parker (centre), Co-ordinator of UWC Careers Service, was the joint winner for the SAGEA Best Employer Representative Award in 2019.

WINNING WITH PASSION AND PURPOSE

Student Development and Support (SDS) has reached a number of milestones in achieving its key objectives and at the same time enhancing progress for the University of the Western Cape (UWC). With our support for students covering the breadth of university life, it is ultimately students who benefi t most from our achievements.

THROUGH VARIOUS STUDENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT DEPARTMENTS, our achievements are the result of the eff ort and skill of our staff members who deliver services with commitment, courage and passion. We work as a collective to ensure co-curricular activities and learning experiences complement student’s academic pursuits. Our co-curricular programmes and interventions have been developed as part of our fi ve-year strategic plan, which is linked to the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) Institutional Operating Plan (IOP) strategic framework. Our co-curricular programmes are aimed at enabling students to realise their full potential. Students need to become self-aware beyond the classroom and ready for life after graduation. We try to ensure that students are empowered to use their education and skills to have a positive impact in society.

To this end, the Offi ce for Student Development (OSD) has been focused on ensuring students can access information and tools to assist them plan a career path. In 2017, OSD launched UWC Career Xplora, the Career Service Management tool by Symplicity. Through this tool, students and recruiters have access to online career services, enabling the move towards a paperless system, which greatly enhanced effi ciency and quality.

Just two years after its launch, in November 2019, the UWC Career Xplora portal won the award for the Best Work Readiness Initiative at the South African Graduate Employers Association (SAGEA) Awards, a national employer benchmark survey among leading recruiters.

This award is bestowed upon a university careers service unit that has developed an innovative work readiness initiative to eff ectively prepare students for the job search and world of work. While this was an external marker of our success, by June 2020 the fact that more than 12 000 of our

students and alumni accessed this portal for their job search confi rmed our decision to invest in this tool. Further testimony to this achievement was the results of the 2019 Universum South African Student Survey, which found that UWC students were satisfi ed with our careers service. Since 2016, this satisfaction rating ranged between 6.9 and 7.6 points, consistently higher than the national average.

Other achievements at the SAGEA Awards include being voted third place for the Best Careers Service and fourth place for the Best Career Fair in 2019. SDS has also made it to the Top 10 universities for Best Careers Service and Best Career Fair since 2013 in the SAGEA Employer Benchmark Survey, which provides the latest market information to the graduate recruitment industry. This demonstrates that UWC remains an institution of choice for employers when searching for graduate talent. SAGEA also rate our staff highly. In 2019, Nazrana Parker, Co-ordinator of UWC Careers Service,

Our winning numbers

14 ATHLETES REPRESENTED SOUTH AFRICA AT THE CUCSA GAMES IN ZIMBABWE (2018) AND BOTSWANA (2018) 18 ATHLETES REPRESENTED SOUTH AFRICA AT THE WORLD STUDENT GAMES (UNIVERSIADE, ITALY) IN 2019 12 000

OF OUR STUDENTS AND ALUMNI ACCESSED THE UWC CAREER XPLORA PORTAL FOR THEIR JOB SEARCH

was the joint winner for the SAGEA Best Employer Representative Award. This award goes to a university careers service staff member who liaises with employer representatives, who nominate the best performers to SAGEA.

OSD achievements in other co-curricular activities include managing the Student Representative Council election, which since 2002 has been declared credible, free and fair. OSD also runs the annual Student Orientation Programme, which has been benchmarked by numerous universities in South Africa.

SDS believes in value-add interventions and programmes. To ensure our work improves, we conduct surveys to gain information and feedback to inform our strategies that respond appropriately to the needs and aspirations of students. UWC was not immune to nationwide student protests in 2015 and in 2017. Protests had an impact on university assets and eroded relationships between staff and students. However, our persistence in reaching out to students through programming and communitybuilding initiatives paid dividends.

As we value the student voice, RS administered surveys and compiled reports about services and student knowledge of our support services. Through this, students became more aware of our processes.

As a result of this intervention, RS demonstrated a steady increase in students accessing support and services. Student leadership in turn off ered thematic programming on current issues for students to connect and have important peer conversations on topical issues. Among these issues has been gender-based violence and RS decided to change its logo to refl ect its stance against this scourge. In partnership with students, RS conducted focused campaigns to educate, advocate and create awareness about gender-based violence.

OUR GOAL IS TO ENSURE STUDENTS USE THEIR EDUCATION AND SKILLS TO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON SOCIETY.

SDS co-curricular programmes have successfully helped UWC students realise their potential beyond the classroom.

Sport Administration achievements

UWC’s winning athletes claim another victory.

n Student Sports Council revived in 2017 and coordinated the following initiatives: Leadership and Athlete Honours Board,

Student Athlete Computer Lab,

Collection and distribution of sanitary towels to female athletes and learners in collaboration with the Thembi Kgatlana Foundation. (African male),

Mr Clement Trout (Coloured male) and

Mr Glen Bentley (Coloured male).

n From 2019, female teams will be coached by female coaches, such as football, volleyball and cricket.

n Student Athlete Academic

Support Programme established in 2019.

n Many student athletes have graduated, including two doctoral candidates who played football, namely Dr. Lwando Mdleleni and

Dr. Siyabulela Hamnca.

n Appointment of diverse staff:

Ms Nadia Mgulwa (African female), Mr Hassan Sobekwa n External stakeholders and public

engagements:

• University Sport South Africa – UWC Sports Director is First

Vice-President • Varsity Cup – UWC Sports

Director is a Board Member • Varsity Sports – UWC Sports

Director is an Executive Member • University Sports Company – UWC Vice-Chancellor is the

Chairperson • WITS Sport - An MoU with WITS

Sport for a staff exchange

Another noteworthy achievement was when the university’s Creative Arts Choir, under the mentorship and support of RS, was announced as the winner in the World Choir Games in 2018.

The choir subsequently participated in the opening ceremonies for the Varsity Cup rugby tournament, university awards evenings and fund-raisers for worthy causes as part of marketing themselves and becoming selfsustaining. The Development Offi cer (DO) programme worthily contributes to mitigating risk alongside our counseling staff who off er psycho-social support. Residential Services employ social workers (master’s and doctoral degree candidates) to provide counseling support after hours and for emergencies.

The Graduate Competency Development Programme (GCDP), initiated to allow students to study and gain work experience signals collaboration across SDS departments. The pool of donors is increasing.

The Centre for Student Support Services (CSSS) has diff erent offi ces that link students to our broad range of services.

Its Offi ce for Students with Disabilities (OSwD) in September 2019 moved into its new revamped offi ces located on the ground fl oor. This was a culmination of years of engagement to make universal access possible for students with disabilities.

This new space with its universal design provides support to 220 students registered with the OSwD. This building includes an emergency exit ramp with a railing to guide blind and visually impaired students. The height of the reception desk accommodates wheelchair users with suffi cient knee clearance. It also has a large Computer Lab with assistive technology and wheelchair accessible desks, as well as a large test and exam venue.

The OSwD location move also marked a time of leadership change, with the newly appointed manager, Verushka Daniels, welcomed into her role. The previous founding stalwart, Evadne Abrahams, bowed out after 35 years at OSwD.

Among the achievements for our Offi ce for Leadership and Social Responsibility is The Leadership Engagement Dialogue (LED) talks, a platform created to facilitate critical thinking about the future of South Africa. Its main objective is for students to “question everything”.

During the LED’s inaugural event in 2019, an emerging legal philosopher and unconventional young scholar, Dr Joel Modiri, presented a thought-provoking input on the notions of freedom.

UWC’s Creative Arts Choir won the World Choir Games in 2018.