Page 9 - Transformation Indaba Report

overview

The moderator, Dr Lesley Powell, opened Day One of the Indaba by warmly inviting participants to engage with the content
being presented during the Indaba actively. The first day was one of reflection and the second day was one of forethought,
looking ahead and identifying transformation priorities and goals for the

“setting the sCene”

officiAl opening & welcome │ Vice-Chancellor Prof Sibongile Muthwa

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Sibongile Muthwa, formally opened The VC’s address advocated five factors, Transformation as a
the Indaba by welcoming all participants and extended appre- pre-requisite, purpose, Mandela-action, responsiveness, and
ciation to Prof Andre Keet (DVC), an eminent transformation sustainability as requirements to set the scene for transforma-
practitioner in the sector and country, for his leadership in tion. She shared a quote from, The Heart of Higher Education:
bringing Mandela University to this point. Furthermore, the VC A Call to Renewal by Parker J. Palmer to motivate her advo-
extended her thanks to Dr Ruby-Ann Levendal, Director of the cacy:
institution’s Transformation Office and her team, members of
University Management and Council, University staff and stu- “The magnitude of the issues confronting the world requires
whole people with whole minds and hearts to lead us into
dents, and external transformation scholars for their contribu- tomorrow. And that in turn, requires us to renew the human
tions to Mandela University’s ongoing transformation. purpose and meaning at the heart of higher education”

Prof Muthwa conveyed her gratitude to colleagues for their TransformaTion as a pre-requisiTe
achievements over the past two difficult years. She suggested Prof Muthwa suggested that universities must configure
that, as a result of the multitude of difficulties, the University themselves as transformative institutions capable of trans-
had acquired a much clearer sense of what it means to be a lating societal aspirations into how their work is deployed.
‘Mandela’ university and how insights from these experiences She indicated that such universities are true universities. That
could make its aspirations come alive.
such institutions recognise the need to embed themselves in
“…perhaps we now in this moment have a clearer sense the social realities of the contexts in which they exist, making
of what it might mean to be Mandela university…” them agents of transformation. She advised that the University
strive to continuously work against the traditional image of
social aloofness, shift towards possibilities of social embed-
dedness, and strive towards becoming a just and self-critical
university. She argued that how we transform and where we
are transforming to are critical to our own institutional ambi-
tions and that transformation is not an end-in-itself but a pre-
requisite for the University to achieve its ambitions which are
entangled with, as well as implicated in, the development
imperatives of the country, continent, and globe.

firsT insTiTuTional TransformaTion plan

Prof Muthwa expressed delight at opening the University’s
very first institutional Transformation Indaba, aimed at: provid-
ing a space for reflection on accomplishments made during the
first 5-year council-approved Institutional Transformation Plan
(ITP); drawing on lessons learnt; and identifying areas for im-
provement. She encouraged all to participate energetically in
the following day’s conversations around new and revised
goals for the next 5-year ITP (2023-2027).