Page 8 - VC 5 Year Review Report 2022

engaged learning, teaching, research, innovation,
and internationalisation recognised for cultivating
graduates who are responsible, innovative global
citizens who contribute to advancing socially just
and sustainable futures. Our academic missions
are undergirded by key strategic enablers to create
the conditions conducive to achieving inclusive
excellence.

Nelson Mandela University embraces the significant
responsibility to embody the legacy and ethos of
the late Nelson Mandela, our iconic namesake, and
in particular his lifelong struggle for a non-racial,
non-sexist, democratic society where all citizens are
treated with respect and dignity. As a comprehensive
university situated in one of the poorest provinces of
South Africa, our efforts to promote student access
for success remain paramount, with a specific focus on
strategies to improve success and throughput rates,
as well as graduate and research outputs. In doing
so, strategic resource mobilisation interventions are
Nelson Mandela geared towards expanding access for academically
deserving so-called “missing middle” under- and
University embraces the postgraduate students who are financially needy, but
do not qualify for the National Student Financial Aid
significant responsibility Scheme (NSFAS).

to embody the legacy Fundamental to the overall institutional
transformation project, has been the establishment of
and ethos of the late a new executive management portfolio rooted in the
interplay between engagement and transformation,
Nelson Mandela, our and their interlinkages with research, learning and
teaching. In so doing, the University has responded
iconic namesake, and to a key dilemma facing the higher education sector,
nationally and globally. That is, if not immersed in
in particular his lifelong society, universities will find it near impossible to
engage authentically and, thus, productively with the
struggle for a non-racial, current socio-economic, environmental, cultural, and

political challenges of our time.
non-sexist, democratic
As a socially embedded higher education institution
society where all citizens in the service of society, the University continuously

are treated with respect evaluates the macro-environmental context and
legislative frameworks within which it operates to
and dignity. assess the impact of global, continental, national,
provincial, and local trends on institutional strategy.

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