DRIVING INNOVATION: MAKING A DIFFERENCE
PLANNING FOR BETTER FUTURES: FOR SOUTH AFRICA, AFRICA AND THE WORLD
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S MESSAGE
INSPIRING INNOVATION: IT’S THE UP WAY
Top universities are pioneers: they pursue innovative research, pedagogies, curricula, and adapt to changing, complex and uncertain environments. They are laboratories for new ideas.
The University of Pretoria (UP) is a pioneer of innovations through which it seeks to transform lives and communities, and to contribute to economic advancement, social justice and sustainable development. Through innovation, it gives strong expression to its vision of becoming a leading research-intensive university in Africa, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact, and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally
The #ChooseUP campaign aims to attract undergraduate and postgraduate students, international students, funders and industry partners to the University. The #ChooseUP Information Day for conditionally admitted students and their parents, won an Excellence Award from the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) organisation for the second time.
Innovation is neither an end in itself nor is it simply about seeking distinctiveness as an excellent university; it is about being relevant and impacting society positively. Innovative research can provide significant benefits to society in the form of new knowledge that can be used to solve “critical problems” facing the world, and provide medical and technological breakthroughs and inventions that improve quality of life.
During 2019, UP achieved some world firsts, among them the world’s first middle ear transplant using 3D-printed bones by Prof Mashudu Tshifularo. In April 2019, the world was awed by the first-ever image of a black hole, an epic feat in astronomy, which was captured by an international team of scientists, including UP’s Prof Roger Deane. These are but two examples of the world-class research happening on African soil and in our country.
Similarly, innovative pedagogies and curricula ensure that teaching and learning are adapted to the needs of students, ensure quality and relevance, and prepare students for the challenges and opportunities they will face after graduation.
UP continues to evolve as an inspiring place where scientists, scholars and students from different disciplinary backgrounds and different parts of the world, meet and interact in pursuit of research that matters.
UP launched the Future Africa Institute and campus,
a place where Africa’s leading scientists and scholars from across the world and from a broad range of disciplines will congregate to leverage the benefits of transdisciplinary research to address the challenges that face Africa and the world. UP also launched the Javett Art Centre, an outstanding resource for students and scholars of art history, curation and conservation, which will enable a transdisciplinary intellectual project that illuminates, inspires and enables new forms of creativity and knowledge to emerge.
UP is equally proud of its many innovations in the teaching and learning domain, such as the use of animations in biochemistry education to enhance student understanding, and the ever-increasing use of blended learning, video lectures and online interactions that bring the world to our University and share our University with the world.
The many complex challenges confronting universities and their communities necessitate innovative responses. As an adaptive strategy, innovation ensures that universities thrive as vibrant educational institutions in changing and uncertain conditions. More importantly, by engaging directly with the significant challenges of society, innovation ensures that universities are relevant by contributing to the advancement of society.
Innovation is the lifeblood of UP. It constantly anticipates future developments and aligns its strategy to shape, embrace or address these developments. It continuously responds to the changing world around it, in South Africa, Africa and globally, and seeks to make a positive and meaningful impact on society. UP is home to academics who are experts in their fields and generates groundbreaking research and world-class innovations.
Simply put, innovation is THE UP WAY.
Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu
Chancellor
CHAIR OF COUNCIL MESSAGE
The
University of Pretoria
has
a compelling story
to tell. In a complex and fast-changing environment, we have differentiated ourselves and are making solid progress towards achieving our goals as set out in the UP 2025 Strategic Plan.
The University of Pretoria (UP) is one of the largest research-intensive universities in South Africa, with seven exceptional campuses and nine highly regarded faculties spanning the knowledge spectrum: from traditional academic fields to rapidly evolving 4IRfocused programmes. It is committed to making a decisive contribution to transforming South Africa’s and Africa’s future through excellence in knowledge creation, impactful and relevant research, high-quality academic programmes, innovative teaching and learning, and social responsiveness and engagement.
The University enjoys a stellar reputation for the quality of both its professional and research-orientated academic programmes. Yet, the profound scientific and technological developments linked with the 4IR, where machines are increasingly becoming smarter, require that it continuously enhance its learning ability, skills and technological knowledge. “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” This statement by Alvin Toffler, an American futurist, predicts the way forward for all universities.
Today’s dynamic world requires that every organisation and individual should find a way to unlearn what they have experienced in the past and relearn so that they can create new solutions for the future. It is an opportunity the University embraced enthusiastically in 2019 when what it could be and how it could thrive in an increasingly uncertain environment was considered.
Following the Universities South Africa’s (USAf) national higher education conference – Reinventing South Africa’s universities for the future – it was clear that universities cannot be ivory towers. They need to positively engage with their varied publics and grow their trust in universities as creators of future-proof knowledge. As a top higher education institution, we, at UP, regard it as our duty to focus on innovation and transformation in all spheres of society, the economy, and the environment. UP believes that education for the 4IR is our greatest opportunity to achieve this and to contribute to a prosperous continent.
The development of the Future Africa Institute and campus and the Engineering 4.0 complex on the UP Hillcrest Campus is stimulating the convergence of expertise across
faculties to address several societal challenges. These innovations seek to bring local and global researchers, networks of scientists and partners from many disciplines and sectors in the broader community to work on transformative research projects that will seek to resolve some of Africa's complex, complicated and intersectional problems, and contribute to Africa's sustainable development. Topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, logistics modelling, synthetic biology, bioprospecting, agriculture and forestry are being explored.
As a University, our raison d'être is to make a difference in society. UP understands that future strategies are not built on “business as usual” approaches, that future societies are not built on conventional thinking and that future solutions are not found in traditional approaches.
In the year under review, UP continued to work towards creating and maintaining a rewarding environment for current students, even exceeding some of its own targets
Prof Tawana Kupe was appointed as Vice-Chancellor and Principal and took office at UP on 14 January 2019. Later in the year, Prof Kupe was awarded an honorary doctorate in the Humanities by Michigan State University.
Other executive appointments include:
• Prof A Ströh as Vice-Principal: Institutional Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (re-appointment)
• Prof N Mosia as Vice-Principal: Student Life (re-appointment)
• Prof N Duncan as Vice-Principal: Academic (re-appointment).
under challenging conditions. At the same time, it also started building a platform for future students to take the lead in a new world, creating new knowledge and new ways of doing things.
This report offers a glimpse into the future.
Ms Futhi Mtoba Chair of Council
Swart, Prof Innocent Pikirayi and Prof Caroline Nicholson; Third row – Mr Phillip Nel, Mr Laurie Dippenaar, Prof Carolina Koornhof, Mr Anton Botha and Mr Johan van
The University of Pretoria is a hidden jewel in the South African higher education landscape, with many facets of brilliance. In the year under review, it had numerous opportunities to demonstrate its clarity of purpose, unique research and depth of engagement.
The significant achievements the University of Pretoria (UP) could record in 2019 are testimony to a solid foundation, one that on 10 February 2019 was 111 years in the making as it celebrated this milestone of its existence. Going forward, UP will continue to use research and education of graduates to transform lives, transform communities and sectors, transform South Africa as a nation and a society, and transform the continent. In short, it will continue to make a significant contribution to changing the world.
In mid-2019, the University launched THE UP WAY, which is its ethos, the way of life at UP and what it stands for as an institution. It is as much about where it comes from as where it is heading to because THE UP WAY is about UP’s excellence, perseverance, respect, creativity, innovation, diversity, growth, kindness and making a difference every day. It reflects UP culture and what its community does to uplift each other and society to make today matter.
UP’s results prove that it is committed to making a decisive difference to transforming South Africa’s and Africa’s future through excellence in knowledge creation, relevant and impactful research, high-quality academic programmes, innovative teaching and learning, and social responsiveness and engagement.
This thread of excellence weaves throughout the UP system, from attracting top young talent to register at UP,
through to retaining top-rated researchers, and featuring strongly in world rankings.
Talent pipeline continues to flow UP remains a destination of choice and again succeeded in attracting students with outstanding school-leaving results. Almost one-third (32.4%) of the first-year students who achieved six or more A-symbols in the National Senior Certificate applied and were admitted to study at the University of Pretoria. This is up from 31.2% in 2018.
The UP undergraduate recruitment strategy emphasises the importance of responsible study and career choices and the employability of students. As a result, UP graduates are able to enter and enjoy success in the careers they choose – 93% of its students are either employed or continuing with their studies six months after graduating1. UP is among the top four South African universities in the Quacquarelli Symonds 2020 Graduate Employability Survey, which shows that our graduates are well-equipped for the world of work and highly soughtafter.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) rating has become an accepted academic performance benchmark in the higher education sector. In 2019, UP had 528
1 University of Pretoria (2018) Graduate destination survey: 2017 UP graduates.
rated researchers, a significant increase compared to previous years. The achievement of a P rating by three UP researchers is particularly gratifying. P-rated researchers are young researchers, under the age of 35 years, who are considered likely to become future international leaders in their respective fields.
There has been pleasing progress in UP’s efforts to increase the percentage of academics with a PhD as their highest qualification, which has increased from 43% in 2012 to 67% in 2019.
Achieving on a global scale
UP’s researchers are putting their credentials to work, with UP having major research success in a number of areas. These not only demonstrate the quality of the university’s research and the calibre of its academics but also research that makes a meaningful contribution to Africa and the world. Three significant breakthroughs, of international magnitude, are: performing the world’s first middle ear transplant with 3D printed bones; the imaging of the black hole; and the discovery that the earliest ancestors of anatomically modern humans emerged in a southern African “homeland”. In the latter two instances, UP researchers were part of a team of international scientists.
In addition to research, UP’s reputation is equally reflected in its rising international profile as evidenced by its strong showing in university rankings systems, which place the University among the top 1.9% of universities in the world, and by the growing number of areas in which it has attained global excellence. UP has a record number of researchers (56) in the top 1% according to the Web of Science Index of 2019. For the third consecutive year, its Faculty of Law has been ranked in the top 100 of the World University Rankings 2020 by subject, by the Times Higher Education (THE) survey. This achievement is unparalleled in South Africa and Africa.
One placing that was particularly pleasing was in the THE Impact Rankings, as it speaks to the university’s promise to do “research that matters”. UP participated for the first time in 2019 and featured among the top 100 universities in the world in three categories: Quality Education
(SDG 4), Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16). It was ranked in the 101-200 band for Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17) and Good Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3), with no other South African university ranked under 200 in this category. The THE Impact Rankings are the only global performance tables that assess universities against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The University’s community engagement continues apace, with 1 500 community sites of learning and 33 000 students involved in community outreach programmes, or volunteering. As a result of its contribution, UP is a member of the University Social Responsibility Network, a network of 16 top universities in the world selected for their responsiveness to their local context. It is critically important that the University uses knowledge to make a decisive difference to the lives of the people in South African communities.
With such innovative and exciting projects as the Future Africa Institute and complex and the Javett-UP Art Centre put into operation in 2019, and with other such transdisciplinary projects in the pipeline, 2019 offered a unique opportunity to harness as much national and international support for UP and its initiatives as possible.
Fundraising targets for 2019 were convincingly exceeded, the number of collaborators and potential collaborators on University projects increased exponentially, and international institutions vied for the opportunity to partner with UP in new and exciting projects.
UP has seen even greater growth in achieving its diversity targets. In 1994, 11% of the student population was black, and in 2019 that number stood at 65%. More than half the students are black women (55%), while black students make up 70% of occupants in UP residences.
UP alumni remain a cornerstone upon which the University builds its reputation. While this group can count among them many achievements, four in particular stood out in 2019:
• Ronald Lamola was appointed as Minister of Justice and Correctional Services by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Minister Lamola completed two master’s degrees at the Faculty of Law as well as a postgraduate certificate in Competition Law.
• Dion Shango was appointed the first black CEO of PwC Africa. He visited Future Africa to discuss collaborating and partnering on various fronts.
• Fransjohan Pretorius, a well-known Emeritus Professor of History at UP, won the sought-after Jan H Marais Prize for his outstanding contribution to Afrikaans as an academic language. He is a B1-rated researcher.
• Sanesha Naicker, a former UP medical student, won the leading female pioneer in breast cancer research award at the 2019 Global Health and Pharma (GHP) Alternative Medicine and Holistic Health Awards. This is just the latest in a long list of awards won by this talented alumnus.
Even on the sporting front, UP took top honours on the podium of excellence. UP’s deserved Sportsman of the Year (2019) was Akani Simbine, a world-class sprinter, while Sportswoman of the Year was Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa’s “golden girl” in swimming. For the second consecutive year, UP were the overall Varsity Champions.
These developments, among others, prove that UP has all the right fundamentals in place on its journey to becoming the leading university on the continent and globally. UP is resolute that academics as researchers and teachers, students as learners and the next generation knowledge leaders, and all who work at the University, are active participants in this quest. This demands excellence and creativity.
A great deal has been achieved, and the University will continue to strive to become a proudly diverse and genuinely inclusive university. UP aspires to become an African Global University, locally responsive, but continental in scope and globally engaged in making a significant contribution to transforming the world. It still has a way to go to achieve this as the global community of universities faces major constraints in the form of boundaries and borders within and beyond higher education. However, UP must build on its common strengths, increase mobility and nurture a new generation of knowledge creators who transcend borders and boundaries to co-create impactful knowledge for a better world.
Prof Tawana Kupe Vice-Chancellor and Principal
286 000+
Number of alumni
118 countries
Alumni distribution
32
67
Excellent teachers
Percentage of academics with a PhD as their highest qualification
56
Researchers in the top 1% of the world 528
NRF-rated researchers
World-class content
Top 100
UP Faculty of Law has been ranked in the Top 100 of the World University Rankings 2020 by subject
93
Percentage of our students who are either employed or continuing with their studies six months after graduating 32+ 93+
Percentage of top performers in the National Senior Certificate who applied to study at UP
Proudly inclusive
Top 1%
Research fields in which UP is ranked in the top 1% globally according to the Web of Science
Essential Science Indicators:
• Agricultural Sciences
• Biology & Biochemistry
• Clinical Medicine
• Engineering
• Environmental/Ecology
• Immunology
• Microbiology
• Plant & Animal Sciences
• Social Sciences
Delivering a quality education drives our every action and steers our every thought. Now, with the help of new technologies and artificial intelligence, our lecturers are preparing a new generation of graduates for the future world of work.
12 Establishing foundations for success 16 Reaping the rewards
18 Developing an integrated supportive environment 21 Creating a campus community
and the output of its learning. It is one of the main contributors of skilled individuals in a broad range of fields critical to the advancement of South Africa. Almost half of UP’s contact students are studying in scarce skills-related fields identified as crucial for the country’s socio-economic development. It is therefore of national importance that all deserving students have access to tertiary education and are supported to successfully complete their studies.
In 2019, just over 91% of UP students successfully passed their examinations, the highest pass rate yet. This is in large part due to the interventions put in place to ensure that our students experience a favourable outcome. These include programmes to facilitate graduation in the minimum time, innovations in the University’s hybrid teaching model and increased use of technologies in teaching and learning.
This foundation has not gone unnoticed: UP was named among the top four South African universities in the Quacquarelli Symonds 2020 Graduate Employability Survey, which shows that our graduates are wellequipped for the world of work and highly sought-after.
FLY@UP programme for undergraduate students
Because of concerns about the time that most students take to complete their first degrees, UP has been coordinating student success initiatives under the banner of FLY@UP (Finish Line is Yours) since 2016. FLY@UP is the University’s flagship student success programme wherein each professional service as well as academic department plays a role.
The project raises awareness among students that completing their degrees in the minimum period has significant advantages, such as saving on tuition fees and starting their postgraduate studies or earning a salary earlier.
The FLY@UP campaign commences with the Academic Orientation Programme, and in 2019, UP positioned Orientation as a neccessity for student success. Of the 9 378 first-year students, 6 777 (72%) attended Orientation week. In addition to the one-week academic orientation, all students must complete an eight-week online extended orientation programme (UPO). The UPO modules are monitored and students are motivated to complete the module through regular supportive messages using electronic media. Topics range from time management and goal setting, to study methods and examination preparation. In 2019, UPO produced a 94% pass rate with all 9 378 students enrolled for the module.
Our High Impact Modules (HIMs) data and team-based review project aims to improve the pass rate in selected modules on the HIMs list. An analysis was done to understand the specific issues that affected performance in a specific module. These included curriculum, assessment, policies and practices, support services, communication, students and lecturers. The success rate for modules in the HIMs project improved on average 13%, with the highest improvement being 39%.
The above interventions are working, as evidenced in our student success data, which improved in 2019. The
module pass percentage improved by 1 percentage point to 83.5%, compared to 2018, which is remarkable as this entailed a significant number of students passing their modules. The examination pass percentage improved to 91.3% (2018: 90.4%) while the drop-out percentage was significantly lower at 5.8% (2018: 7.3%).
The University has been implementing the FLY Higher@ UP initiative since 2018 to address challenges with postgraduate student retention, success and throughput.
The programme is the postgraduate equivalent of the undergraduate FLY@UP programme and it focuses on the main milestones that postgraduate students need to achieve, such as the allocation of supervisors, finalisation of research topics, development of research proposals, seeking ethics approval and the approval of the postgraduate committee, data collection and analysis, and writing and submission of a thesis or dissertation for examination.
e-technologies
In 2019, UP introduced a new teaching and learning model – Teaching and Learning THE UP WAY – to prepare its students for their future workplaces. The model requires students to come prepared to class, complete a pre-class assessment, and engage in class. This develops self-directed lifelong learners and will prepare UP students to flourish in a fast-changing world.
New technologies and artificial intelligence are creating many opportunities to enhance learning. UP’s new Teaching and Learning model gives students the best of both worlds – online and contact.
Five main drivers inform the model that aims to prepare the new generation of students to flourish in the world of work:
• Research into effective teaching and learning;
• The knowledge and skills UP students need for the future workplace;
• Characteristics and learning needs of current UP students;
The University is using online platforms and applications to build stronger connections with its audiences. The JuniorTukkie App has been well received in the prospective student market and recorded 18 540 downloads, primarily from schools in marginalised communities. UP’s Alumni Connect, a virtual networking platform, allows departments to build online relationships with their alumni.
The University migrated its Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Analytics systems to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud in 2019. Lecturers are now able to collaborate on content, share information, lecture students, upload videos and even assess projects through the Blackboard Learn mobile application. This online platform, clickUP (Blackboard Learn), can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, and almost one-third of logins derive from mobile phones. It allows students universal access to teaching and learning content with
• The current reality and facilities of the university; and
• New learning and teaching technologies that are scalable and have a high impact, such as clickUP, in-video assessment before class, and clicker Apps to engage all students in the class.
no risk of system outages during critical periods of the academic year. A leading indicator in 2019 was that 95.5% of all undergraduate modules had an active online presence on clickUP.
The University bought institutional licenses for a Clicker Mobile App and H5P video assessment software. This
Technology is helping students enhance participation in class through the Clicker App and improve their employability through online courses.
enables all lecturers and students to use the mobile version of clickers and video assessment software at no additional costs. The use of a Clicker App (student response system) makes active student engagement possible even in large classrooms. The feedback from the clickers provides students with instant information about their own understanding of current and prior knowledge. This real-time feedback helps lecturers to identify and address any misunderstandings and can help to improve on future class activities to enhance participation.
UP organised the Fifth Flexible Futures Conference at the Future Africa campus to showcase and share its teaching and learning innovations. The theme – Impactful teaching between clicks and bricks – demonstrated that it is not just important what students learn in the classroom but how students are prepared for 4IR and the world of work after university.
Through the Work Readiness and Entrepreneurship (WREn) project, which was launched in 2016, UP embarked on two programmes to help its graduates enter the world of work or start their own business.
The Ready for Work programme builds workplace readiness among UP students by providing them with key employability skills. Four core packages focus on career planning, job preparation, workplace skills and personal development. All the modules in the first four packages are free, self-paced, and are presented fully online. During 2019, there were 3 438 enrolments in these courses.
A new module on the “gig” economy, an emerging self-employment trend, was introduced in 2019. The “gig” economy is becoming all the more important in an increasingly digital world that allows people to work from anywhere and at any time.
The University also helps students in finding employment through career fairs, employability workshops and industry expert master classes. TuksCareers has 2 697 active companies on its database and 31 842 student interactions took place in 2019.
A new module on the “gig” economy was introduced in our Ready for Work programme. The “gig” economy is becoming increasingly important in a digital work that allows people to work from anywhere in the world and at any time. It is an emerging self-employment trend where temporary positions are common and freelance professionals contract with organisations for short periods of time.
A Centre for Entrepreneurship was established to enhance employment creation and ignite economic growth. The Centre will coordinate the various existing entrepreneurial activities at the University:
• Mamelodi Business Clinic, where SMMEs are trained
• EBIT’s TuksNovation and EMS’s Business Incubator, where students are exposed to practical aspects
• GIBS Entrepreneurship Development Academy, where existing entrepreneurs are supported
• Online training, where UP students can learn more (#Start_ UP; #Link_UP and #Grow_UP).
4
We are among the top four South African universities in the QS 2020 Graduate Employability Survey, which shows that our graduates are highly sought after.
93
Percentage of our students who are either employed or continuing with their studies six months after graduating.
Growing interest in Ready for Work programme
2 018 active students
3 566 active students
The University’s success rate is measured on multiple levels, among them an increasing pool of skilled graduates and its recognition on the world stage.
Student profile
Of the total enrolment of 48 532 contact students in 2019, 26% were postgraduates, of which 63% (8 054) were black1. The percentage of black contact students (undergraduate and postgraduate) was 59% in 2019 and, in addition, almost all the students enrolled for distance education were black.
1 Black includes African, Coloured and Indian students.
External accolades affirm UP’s efforts to develop the leadership qualities of our students alongside their academic excellence. Some exceptional UP students recognised in 2019 were:
• Dr Chris Oosthuizen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Mammal Research Institute, won the British Ecological Society’s annual photography competition, Capturing Ecology.
• Fiona Mumoki and Andrea Wilson (PhD students) were among 14 women who were awarded fellowships by the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Regional Programme.
• Thulani Sibanda, a PhD student in Food Science, won first prize in the 2018 Food Safety without Borders Graduate Student Paper Competition at the International Union of Food Science and Technology World Food Science and Technology Congress held in Mumbai, India.
• Stuart Taylor, who is doing his master’s degree in animal science, won the award for the best graduate student presentation at an annual meeting of the International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• Ruvimbo Samanga presented a paper at the African Leadership Congress in Space and Technology in Abuja, Nigeria, where she was elected as a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council for the United Nations and of the Women in Aerospace in Africa Committee.
• Ruben Cruywagen, an MSc student in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, won the Young Entomologists’ Essay Prize.
While the University’s 2019 total contact enrolment was below the set target by 5.1%, there was an increase of 0.57% in contact undergraduate enrolments from 2018 to 2019, and 1.78% in contact postgraduate enrolments over the same period.
Graduate outputs
A total of 12 857 diplomas and degrees were awarded in 2019, a decrease of 655 graduates compared to 2018 (13 512). The decrease was partly attributable to a drop in distance education graduates to 557 (2018: 611). This mainly impacted on the postgraduate output.
The total number of master’s graduates in 2019 improved
• Ofentse Mathibela, an honours student in Plant Science, won the best poster in Physiology/Ecophysiology/ Biotechnology at the 45th Annual Congress of the SA Association of Botanists. Analike Blom was awarded the best oral presentation by a PhD student.
to 2 008 (2018: 1 993) and that of doctoral graduates was down at 399 (2018: 427).
The decline in contact undergraduate output is the result of a drop in new first-year students enrolled for bachelor degrees in 2016 and 2017. While the decrease in 2016 was planned, the decrease in 2017 resulted from the instability in the higher education sector in 2016.
An important dimension of tertiary education is broad exposure to varied thinking. Staff and student exchanges, as well as international postgraduate students, facilitate this. In 2019, 4 669 international students were registered at UP, more than 60% of UP’s postdoctoral fellows (264) were from other countries, and there was a strong increase in international academic staff which now number 203 (2018: 180).
Recognition for the quality of UP’s teaching content also gained new heights. UP has historically been positioned in the top 1% globally in eight of the 22 Essential Science Indicator (ESI) fields: Agricultural Sciences, Clinical Medicine, Engineering, Environmental/Ecology, Immunology, Microbiology. Plant & Animal Sciences, and Social Sciences. In 2019 UP added a 9th knowledge field to their ESI bouquet: Biology & Biochemistry. UP was the top-ranked university in South Africa in the fields of Engineering and Plant & Animal Sciences.
World ranking systems classify, differentiate and position universities within the global higher education landscape. UP’s interest in these rankings is informed primarily by its overarching vision of becoming a global research player and, secondly, as a steering mechanism to enhance performance by encouraging UP researchers to publish in high-impact journals and embrace important research practices such as collaborative research and coauthorship with international partners.
UP’s Faculty of Law was placed 76th in the world by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2019 by subject. THE rankings include almost 1 400 universities across more than 90 countries, making it the
• The Minister of International Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor, received her PhD degree at the Faculty of Education’s graduation ceremony. Prof Chika Sehoole, Dean of the Faculty of Education, was this high-profile Cabinet Minister’s supervisor.
• Hjalmar Rall completed his BSc (Physics) degree at the age of 17. He joined UP in 2017 at the age of 14.
• UP and the Université Grenoble Alpe together awarded Elsa Nolte a PhD in human physiology during the autumn graduation season. She spent a year in Grenoble after being awarded the French Embassy Research Grant.
biggest and most diverse university rankings to date.
The Faculty of Law’s rating is all the more remarkable amid negative reports on the LLB programme in the sector. The Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree offered at 17 universities in the country will be the object of a major overhaul after a Council on Higher Education (CHE) report found the degree to be lacking in certain areas, among others, critical thinking. This followed a CHE national review of the qualification that was prompted by the legal profession drawing the CHE’s attention to its dissatisfaction with the quality of recently graduated law professionals.
UP improved its ranking in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for 2020. It bettered its global position in two of the six indicators, which ranks it fifth in the country and in the top 52% of universities in the QS rankings. UP was also recently named among the top four South African universities in the QS 2020 Graduate Employability Survey, which shows that its graduates are well-equipped for the world of work and highly sought-after.
In the Informatics Institute’s Universal Ranking by
Academic Performance (URAP) for subjects, UP came third locally with 22 subjects ranked. UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Science was ranked 48th in the world while Zoology featured 54th. The main objective of URAP is to develop a ranking system for the world’s universities based on academic performance indicators that reflect the quality and the quantity of their scholarly publications.
The Gordon Institute for Business Science’s Executive MBA is still among the best in the world. It was ranked 48 out of 134 Global Executive MBA providers by the global business school analyst Quacquarelli Symonds. This is a major achievement as it is the first time GIBS entered these rankings. GIBS also ranked as the top business school in South Africa and top in Africa according to the UK Financial Times rankings.
A student’s tertiary education success depends on a multitude of factors, some as tangible as funds and a safe place to stay; others less tangible, such as leadership potential and emotional wellbeing. UP recognises this and its response to its students’ needs is equally nuanced.
UP remains a destination of choice and again succeeded in attracting students with outstanding school-leaving results. We know that these young people will enhance UP’s reputation for being a significant contributor to the scarce skills talent pool.
• David Dodkins from North West province was the top achiever nationally in mathematics and physical science. He registered at UP for a degree in actuarial and financial mathematics.
• Tiisetso Molata from Dobsonville, Soweto, achieved a 94.5% matric pass. He registered for an Electrical Engineering degree.
• Mongezi Mbatha graduated from the Prinshof School for
UP has for many years been providing funding support to enable financially disadvantaged students progress to higher education. The portfolio of bursaries consists of the University’s own funds, funds raised through donations, gifts, grants, and funding administered on behalf of third parties such as state departments, foundations and provincial governments.
In 2019, UP disbursed close on R1.7bn in financial aid, with contributions from UP’s own funds increasing by 12% to R163m.
The Vice Chancellor’s Discretionary Award made 55 awards to students who are high achievers and represent a talented group of individuals on campus. UP will be consolidating and elevating its talent programmes for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, in part to embed the idea that UP is a place of excellence where talented students seek to be admitted.
The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programme, which started at UP in 2014 with 19 students, is one of its most prestigious scholarships. It provides an opportunity for academically gifted students, from all over Africa, to study at UP. In 2019, a total of 63 students (23 undergraduates and 40 postgraduates) from 15 African countries were awarded the Mastercard Scholarship, bringing the total number of UP Mastercard scholars to over 200.
the visually impaired, and was the top performing student nationally in the special needs category. He registered for a BCom degree in Informatics.
• Misimiswa Magoro is studying Chemical Engineering, and Natasha Hlogwane Dentistry, both having achieved excellent marks with an average of above 90% .
• The top achiever from Pretoria Girls High School, Vanessa Annor, is studying Medicine at UP.
• Taleah Ayob achieved 100% for mathematics and accounting and had an average of 94%, with seven As. She is studying Electrical Engineering at UP.
Student success
91 Percentage of students who successfully passed their examinations
12 857 Diplomas and degrees awarded Student support
Student improvement
91.3
Examination pass percentage (2018: 90.4%) 5.8
Drop-out percentage (2018: 7.3%)
Faculty of Law ranked #76 in the world by
THE World University Rankings
83.5%
Module pass percentage (2018: 82.5%)
Top subjects
UP ranked top among SA universities by InCites Essential Science Indicators
95.5
Percentage of undergraduate modules that have an active online presence
R1.7 bn
Financial aid provided to students
GIBS MBA
Ranked #48 out of 134 Global Executive MBA providers by Quacquarelli Symonds
The Student Health Services Unit provides basic health services to students on all campuses through professional nurses, medical doctors, dieticians, optometrists and HIV testing professionals, all based under one roof in an accessible clinic on each of the campuses.
There was a marked increase in the number of immunisations against communicable diseases, in particular flu, meningitis, rabies and hepatitis B, from 666 in 2018 to 6 142 in 2019. There was a positive response to the free contraception provided, with significant numbers of women being assisted and free condoms made available to all students.
UP places a high priority on the mental health and wellness of its students. The Student Counselling Unit provides professional psychological support on all UP campuses and in 2019 held 18 800 counselling sessions. The Unit offers academic counselling and assessments, therapeutic services, psycho-education and emotional support to students to ensure that they are equipped to deal with trauma or personal and academic stress, to make correct career choices, and to be academically successful. Life skills enable students to develop holistically, ensuring well-rounded individuals and socially responsible citizens.
A peer support programme was launched in 2019 in partnership with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) to enhance the University’s capacity to provide emotional and psychological support to students. The programme has been very successful and UP will continue implementing it. The agreement with SADAG to offer 24-hour telephonic counselling to students who have been exposed to trauma and to deal with crises of immediate concern was also renewed.
Food insecurity – whether through undernourishment or lack of food – denies students the chance to achieve their full potential. In a food survey, UP found that 30% of its students do not have the R50 a day needed for three meals and that only 38% of students eat breakfast, the most important meal of the day.
Informed by these findings, the University launched a Healthy Eating Campaign. The campaign involved handing out free fresh produce to students, infographic posters, scientific articles and social media activations to raise awareness among students of the importance of nutrition.
Affordable nutritious meal-of-the day options are now available in the residence dining halls. “Fryless Wednesdays”, where fried and fatty foods were eliminated from the menu for one day a week, was the first step in a phased project to change students’ eating habits.
The Student Nutrition and Progress Programme provides meal credits or food parcels to students in need. R700 000 was made available from the UP budget in 2019 and was supplemented by private cash donations of more than R200 000, and food donations from the private sector. Students and staff also made food donations, under the auspices of the University’s Mandela Day Zero Hunger campaign.
Tuks FM again teamed up with Menlyn Park Shopping Centre to help UP students in need. The campaign, Back2Varsity, called on the public to donate nonperishable foods, stationery, toiletries and clothing. This wonderful initiative underscores the philosophy of “together for each other” – communities survive because people help one another.
In 2019, the University continued providing a loan advance to each qualifying student in a UP residence to enable them to afford meals until NSFAS or bursary funds are paid out. All NSFAS students received a R15 000 living allowance, and all other qualifying students living in UP residences, including those in the missing middle category, received a R14 400 loan advance for meals. The rationale for this advance is to prevent students from going hungry and to enable them to concentrate in class without worrying whether they will have a meal or not.
Student wellbeing is integral to the general development and overall success of students and we continue to invest in programmes that ensure that our students not only succeed during their time at university, but also develop into well-rounded individuals, socially responsible citizens, and employable graduates. Besides the professional services for the support and personal development of students, creating a safe and welcoming space form the foundation of UP’s strategy in this regard.
The Rand Merchant Bank THINK Bench is a 13-metre public artwork donated to the University by Council Member, Laurie Dippenaar. The bench was launched on 13 August and is now part of the unique sculpture scene that the Hatfield Campus offers. Designed by Louis Olivier and created by the Workhorse Bronze Foundry, THINK bench celebrates and encourages innovative and collaborative thinking. More than 20 students can use it simultaneously.
Laurie Dippenaar, co-founder of RMB; UP Vice-Chancellor Prof Tawana Kupe; David Kabwa, UP SRC President; and artist Louis Olivier at the unveiling of the RMB THINK Bench at UP’s Hatfield Campus.
In addition to providing a physical environment that is conducive to student success and wellbeing, the residences at UP have developed programmes to promote a psycho-social environment that fosters academic success, diversity, and a sense of community. The residences’ Triple L + 1 programme aims to achieve understanding (Listening), create a sense of belonging (Living), promote Learning, and leave a positive and innovative Legacy. Dialogue sessions cover topics such as life skills, healthcare and mental health, diversity, financial training, sexual behaviour, addiction, academic skills such as exam preparation, and managing stress.
The system of residence benefactors, which was introduced in 2018 to enhance interaction between resident students and the University’s management team, was continued in 2019. This also provides an opportunity for the University’s academic leadership to build relationships and develop a deeper understanding of the challenges facing students in their daily living environment.
The University provides student development programmes for a variety of student governance and student life structures, including day houses, faculty houses, residence house committees, other student committees, organisations and societies. Peer mentorship and peer support groups, as well as student-initiated tutor programmes, were expanded in residences and organised student structures. A leadership development training event was held for all elected student leaders and committee members. The aim of the training was to create a shared understanding among all student leaders at UP of their respective roles, and to unlock the potential of students as leaders, responsible citizens and contributors to the community.
A stable and peaceful campus environment is essential for students and the University’s leadership meets regularly with the Student Representative Council (SRC)
and affiliated student structures to identify and discuss key issues and provide correct information to increase the level of information flow and trust across all levels of governance.
The portfolio-based structure of the SRC is one of the contributing factors to the current effectiveness of student governance and stability at UP. This structure allows for all aspects of student life and students’ needs to be addressed. Free and fair student elections also contribute to campus stability and 2019 was again marked by smooth election processes for the SRC and other student structures. A successful round of audited electronic voting, facilitated by the Independent Electoral Commission, helped make the hand-over from the 2019 SRC to the 2020 SRC near seamless.
The safety and security of students and staff remain a priority. Throughout 2019, students who felt unsafe could request campus security to escort them to their residences and make use of the publicised green routes, especially after hours. UP’s campus security officers were also placed strategically across all campuses. Students without airtime could send a ‘please call me’ message to a dedicated number and campus security would call them back.
As an anchor institution, UP is actively involved in the City
of Tshwane and the Hatfield CBD Improvement District. A 24-hour Hatfield Tshwane Metro Police Department satellite station opened its doors in 2019. It employs eight police officers and has two support vehicles (provided by UP) and 79 CCTV cameras. This will go a long way in protecting the Hatfield community of which UP staff and students form a major part.
The extramural student life programme at UP is aimed at supporting the holistic development of students. It entails a wide variety of sporting codes, cultural events and activities. The Arts remain a cornerstone of such activities, and UP’s sporting achievements are legendary.
There were outstanding events and achievements for the arts and music at UP in 2019, most notably the Principal’s Concert, which has been held every year since 1977 to recognise the important role played by the arts, including music, in building a community and in uplifting our spirits.
The 2019 Concert set a new standard when Abdullah Ibrahim, coming all the way from New York, mesmerised the audience with his great talent. Everyone agreed that he is indeed a “jazz master” as he was officially crowned in 2019 by the National Endowment for the Arts in the US.
Tuks FM won the best campus radio station of the year award at the Liberty Radio Awards, making it the only radio station to have won this award five times. Furthermore, they also walked away with awards for the best afternoon drive show, best breakfast show, best music show (locals only), best night-time show (Hip Hop show) and radio innovation (Hear the sights). Tuks FM also won CV-Magazine’s 2019 Small Business Award for best radio station in South Africa.
Sport has continued to be a source of pride for the University and its performance during 2019 confirmed that UP is indeed a sporting powerhouse in Africa. UP’s deserved Sportsman of the Year (2019) was Akani Simbine while Sportswoman of the Year was Tatjana Schoenmaker, both world-class athletes. For the second consecutive year, UP teams were the overall Varsity Champions, winning three tournaments.
The following teams showed great sporting prowess in the 2019 Varsity Tournaments:
• Assupol TuksCricket beat University of Johannesburg (UJ) in the final by eight wickets. It was the fourth time in five years that Assupol Tuks has won the tournament.
• Delta Drone Tuks women's sevens team won the
South African and Tuks wheelchair tennis rising star Donald Ramphadi (right) won three successive titles: the Thailand Open, the Pattaya Open-final and the Bangkok Cup Tournament. He has remained unbeaten in his last 12 international encounters. Mariska Venter won the BNP Paribas International Tournament in France.
Tennis South Africa (TSA) and UP sealed an exciting new partnership whereby TuksSport and TuksTennis became the official home for the TSA Wheelchair Tennis high-performance programme from November 2019. The partnership makes
inaugural Varsity Tournament by beating Fort Hare 46-0.
• TuksNetball beat University of Stellenbosch in a humdinger final 48-43. What is remarkable about the team's performance is that it became the first team in the history of the Varsity Tournament to not lose a game.
In the Universities Sports South Africa (USSA) tournaments, UP teams and athletes fared exceptionally well. The teams that came out tops were TuksJudo, winning the tournament for a fifth consecutive time; TuksHockey, making it the third time they have won the tournament; TuksGolf; TuksRugby; Tuks men's sevens rugby; DeltaDrone Tuks women's sevens rugby; and TuksSwimming.
provision for extensive sport science and medical services at the Tuks High Performance Centre, partnering with the Sport Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI).
Assupol TuksCricket’s celebration of 100 years of cricketing excellence was made even more special when they won the Red Bull Campus Cricket T20-tournament in Dubai. Captain Jiveshen Pillay was the best batsman and was also rated the most valuable player. He has the distinction of being the only batsman to score a century.
Tatjana Schoenmaker deservedly won the South African Sportswoman of Year award as well as the South African Sports Star of the Year award. She was responsible for one of the most significant breakthroughs in South African women's sport when she won a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke during the World Championships in Korea. It was the first time that a local swimmer medalled at a world long course championship (50m). She also won two gold medals (100m as well as 200m breaststroke) at the World Student Games in Napoli, Italy. She topped it all with two gold medals at the Tokyo World Cup (100m and 200m breaststroke).
Another TuksSwimming champion is Kaylene Corbett who won three gold medals (50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke) during the African Games in Rabat.
TuksAthletics saw many of its athletes grab the global spotlight, with just a small sample featured here:
• South African sprint champion, Tebogo Mamathu’s win proved that 100m in 11.04s is possible during the 40th Resisprint Meeting in La Chaux, Switzerland.
for the 11th consecutive
for a fourth consecutive time, which is another first. The men’s B and women’s B teams were also victorious. No university has ever managed to win all four races, making Tuks the overall USSA rowing champions.
Her time is the second-fastest ever by a South African female sprinter.
• Sokwakhana Zazini won a silver medal in the 400m hurdles for men during the World Student Games in Napoli while Zeney van der Walt won a silver medal in the same race for women.
• Akani Simbine finished fourth in the 100m final at the World Championships in Doha. His time of 9.93s was the best result by a South African sprinter in a 100m final at a world championship. He and Clarence
Munyai were also part of the South African 4 x100m relay team that set a new African and South African record at the World Championships. The team clocked a time of 37.65s in the heats. Earlier in the year, Simbine made his own history when he won the 100m during the London Diamond League Meeting.
• 17-year-old Thomas Breytenbach won a gold medal at the Borsa Open Judo Tournament in Bosnia and Herzegovina, competing in the under-81kg category.
UP’s research strategy focuses on research that is relevant and addresses major challenges globally and, in particular, in Africa as a developing region. It is in anticipating future challenges, and in the digital race, that UP has taken the lead.
to pursue “research that matters”: research that addresses complex societal challenges and, in particular, the challenges that are faced by developing regions in the world. Such issues include the environment, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, health, education, and evidence-based policies for development.
UP is well known for its research. Its vision of becoming a leading research-intensive institution known for cuttingedge research, excellence and innovation found traction in 2019. Some of the breakthroughs that have placed UP, South Africa and Africa on the world stage are presented below. This is only a small selection that is indicative of the breadth, depth and excellence of UP research.
Performing a middle ear transplant using 3D printed bones
Prof Mashudu Tshifularo, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology in the Faculty of Health Sciences, developed a pioneering surgical procedure to help remedy conductive hearing loss. The procedure involves using 3D technology to print the bones of the middle ear. Prof Tshifularo received the Hamilton Naki Award at the 2019 NRF Awards and won the Global Excellence Award at the South African Clinician Scientists Society’s Health Excellence awards for his pioneering 3D ear transplant.
On 10 April a world announcement was made in Brussels, Belgium, with satellite linkages to major centres across the world (UP included), on the first results from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Central to this discovery is Prof Roger Deane, an associate professor in the Department of Physics, and his research team. With the combined power of a worldwide network of radio telescopes, astronomers have peered into the heart of our galaxy and, for the first time, imaged the very edges of the black hole. The EHT team won the 2019 Breakthrough Prize for fundamental physics and was awarded $3m by the
Breakthrough Prize Foundation.
Identifying Africa as the birthplace of modern Homo sapiens
On 28 October a major research breakthrough was announced involving two UP researchers, Professors Vanessa Hayes and Riana Bornman. They were part of a team of international scientists who, through the use of DNA, found that the earliest ancestors of anatomically modern humans emerged in a southern African “homeland” and thrived there for 70 000 years, before some migrated due to climate shifts.
Developing a plant-based vaccine
UP and the CSIR developed a vaccine against avian influenza using tobacco plants, bypassing the many biosafety risks involved with using traditional live virus vaccines. In this world-first study, a virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine against bird flu in chickens was successfully produced and tested. What is remarkable is that one kilogramme of plant leaf material can produce enough vaccine to vaccinate 30 000 chickens and no live virus is involved in any stage of the production process.
The project was conceptualised by Prof Celia Abolnik, holder of the South African Research Chair Initiative in Poultry Health and Production in the Department of Production Animal Studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, and the CSIR’s Dr Maretha O’Kennedy, an extraordinary lecturer in the same department. They cosupervised PhD candidate Tanja Smith in the laboratory and clinical study.
Saving an elephant in Poland
Two UP staff members from the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Professors Gerhard Steenkamp and Adrian Tordiffe, saved Ninio, an elephant in the Poznan Zoo in Poland, by extracting his damaged tusk, which became severely infected in July after a crack appeared at the base of his right tusk. This procedure took five hours. His left tusk was removed a few years ago by the same vets.
The world is going through rapid changes, with the 4IR having a huge impact on how universities conduct themselves. It is within this context that UP is forging ahead with its emphasis on transdisciplinary platforms. UP has taken the lead in the 4IR space and established the Institute of Big Data and Data Science (IBDDS), which represents a multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research cluster in the domains of big data and data science that include artificial intelligence.
The Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology is facilitating IBDDS, and has already established four research chairs that are all externally funded:
SARChI/DST Chair in Artificial Intelligence
ABSA Chair in Data Science
Multichoice Chair in Machine Learning
• DRS Chair in Cybersecurity.
Research projects and activities within the 4IR arena that UP researchers are working on, and which will give UP the comparative and competitive edge both locally and globally, are:
ǀ
Astrophysics and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Digital forensics and cybersecurity
• Health and biological sciences ranging from bioinformatics and genomic research to disease control and lifestyle research through the UP SEMLI Institute
• Financial and economic sciences, with a focus on the insurance, banking and finance sectors
• Learning analytics, with the primary objective of understanding and optimising student learning and success
• Engineering sciences, with a strong focus on supply chain management and future smart transportation.
UP, through the Gordon School of Business Science (GIBS), is supporting students and executive education clients to adapt to both the Third and Fourth Industrial Revolutions and their associated impact on business, management and the future of work in our South African and broader African context. In addition to deepening knowledge and skills associated directly with new technologies, GIBS has focused on the need to develop “soft skills”, including how leaders manage in the face of accelerated technological change.
The Library Services is also at the forefront of the UP 4IR focus with a rather interesting new “staff member”, Libby, our resident service library robot. She weighs just 19kg and stands 90cm tall, sporting more than 60 sensors. She will perform general mundane, repetitive tasks which has the advantage that it frees up other staff members to do more specialised and advanced work.
UP’s research capacity profile continued to strengthen in many areas. The growing proportion of staff with doctorates and those who have achieved an NRF rating, as well as the increase in the number of master’s and doctoral enrolments and graduates, have all contributed to UP’s research-intensive identity.
Academic staff with PhDs increased from 43% in 2012 to 67% in 2019. UP’s research productivity, measured as research output units for which subsidy is earned, has steadily increased over recent years, and stands at 2092.45 (2018: 2054.54). The report of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on sectorlevel research performance shows that UP tied with the University of Kwazulu-Natal with the highest percentage (10.8%) of the total research output units of all South African universities for 2018, and had the highest weighted output per capita (3.70).1
UP now has 528 NRF-rated researchers (2018: 507). There was an increase in both master’s and doctoral enrolments, creating a healthy pipeline for our research capacity. Master’s students increased to 6 239 (6 116 in 2018), and doctoral students grew to 2 375 (2018: 2 307). Master’s graduations increased to 2 008 (2018: 1 993).
Based on Essential Science Indicator (ESI) statistics, a total of 176 UP-published papers were among the top papers world-wide over a 10-year period. This is up from 145 in 2018 and 100 in 2017. The number of UP scientists positioned in this top international category has grown to 56 compared to 53 in 2018 and 35 in 2017.
A strong indicator of the University’s research and innovation culture is the 50 research chairs that it hosts, which also demonstrates strong partnerships with industry and government. These chairs include 19 Department of Science and Innovation DSI-NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) chairs and 31 industry-funded research chairs ranging across various departments.
1 DHET, April 2020. Report on the Evaluation of the 2018 Universities’ Research Output.
The Murray & Roberts Research Chair in Industry Leadership 4.0 will provide specialised skills that are essential to the 4IR through defined leadership strategies, particularly as they pertain to the mining and mineralsrelated industries. Murray & Roberts has committed its support of this new Chair for the next three years, which is housed in the Department of Mining Engineering.
Prof Mavis Mulaudzi was awarded the SARChI Chair in Ubuntu Community Model of Nursing. Prof Mulaudzi is an expert in indigenous knowledge systems and their role in nursing practice. As a new approach, this SARChI Chair proposes including the African philosophy of ubuntu as the foundation of caring ethics in the nursing profession.
Two significant developments in 2019 paved the way to build on UP’s research relevance and impact and strengthen its industry and government links.
Towards the end of 2019, the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology took ownership of a new research vehicle – the Road/Rail Infrastructure Monitoring System (RIMS). RIMS is a high-tech transport infrastructure monitoring and assessment device that will greatly improve South Africa’s capacity to maintain its rail and road network. It is capable of travelling along both road and rail infrastructure. This special and unique piece of research equipment is funded by UP and the NRF as part of its National Equipment Programme (NEP).
The state-of-the-art Engineering 4.0 building, which is the result of a UP partnership with SANRAL and the CSIR, will host Africa’s first independent transport reference and testing facility. It will also be a research and training hub for smart transport systems and will share its vast resources in technology and data sciences with all faculties via Future Africa.
The structure is built in three parts:
• SANRAL’s National Roads Materials Reference Laboratory is the site for independent reference testing of materials for the road construction industry, the first in Africa.
• A laboratory to train and certify laboratory technicians and engineering students.
• An Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) facility and active traffic track for real-traffic testing. This unique facility allows one to characterise pavement design and construction while using data obtained from the active traffic lane to model many aspects in transportation systems.
Partnerships and collaboration
UP is a respected member of the international research community, collaborating with over 3 000 institutions worldwide (excluding South African institutions). Europe and North America remain the most active areas for collaboration, both in terms of the number of institutions collaborated with and the research output of those partnerships.
In 2019, the University developed a focused internationalisation strategy for UP, identifying partnerships and networks that will accelerate achievement of the UP 2025 strategic goals. The ViceChancellor and Principal undertook visits to potential partner universities around the world, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, University of Zurich, University of Oslo, Michigan State University, and Ikiam Amazon Regional University, among others.
The University is committed to forging collaborations with other African institutions and plays a leading role in the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and many other Africa-focused initiatives. These include:
• Southern African-Nordic Centre, a forum consisting of 48 universities from southern Africa and the Nordic regions to foster cooperation between academic institutions
• South Africa-Sweden Universities Forum – UP coordinated the second SASUF conference in 2019
• The YEBO! Project, an international collaborative project of the Erasmus Plus Capacity building programme, coordinated by University of Montpellier, France. Involving seven South African and five European universities, the project focuses on internationalisation of PhD studies. In 2019, 27 UP staff members benefited from the project.
UP’s research partnerships in Africa consider the type of science needed to address key challenges on the continent. UP is a partner in a number of research consortia in Africa and contribute actively to the region’s knowledge base. Some examples of UP’s activities in 2019 included:
• Joining the Michigan State University-Alliance for African Partnerships (MSU-AAP). As part of its programmes, the AAP African Futures Program is a competitive research leadership programme targeting early career women researchers from AAP member institutions. These early career researchers will participate in the UP-Future Africa Research Leadership Programme.
To cater for the significant demand for diagnostic ultrasound in healthcare delivery, the Department has introduced Diagnostic Ultrasound under the existing BRadHons degree. This makes UP one of only three higher education institutions in the country offering diagnostic ultrasound qualifications.
An additional plan – Statistics and Data Science – was introduced under the existing BScHons to keep pace with current trends and meet the needs of local and global industry.
An additional master’s programme – Alternative Dispute Resolution – has been introduced to address a growing demand for legal practitioners, non-practitioners and lawyers to resolve complex problems through innovative techniques. This specialised programme will distinguish the University from most South African universities.
That’s one of the questions raised by a collaborative project, Urban Africa 2050, endorsed by 15 theological institutions in 13 African cities and involving 16 researchers. Each research participant has developed a research plan for their city, including recommending transformed theological curricula able to meet the challenges of Africa’s urban futures.
• Developing, through Future Africa and the University of Tokyo, an Africa-Asia collaborative pillar that will include collaborative research projects and student and academic staff exchange.
Two collaborative projects in 2019 were:
• The Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics’ African Soil Microbiology project, a collaboration between nine countries across sub-Saharan Africa. It is funded by USAID and the Oppenheimer Foundation. Over 900 soil samples have been obtained from the nine partner nations, and 16S phylogenetic data has been obtained from most of these. A high-impact publication is anticipated for 2020.
• The Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law participated in the Human Rights Implementation Project. This is a collaborative project between four leading academic human rights centres (Bristol, Essex, Middlesex and Pretoria) and the Open Society Justice Initiative, investigating factors that impact on human rights law implementation by nine states across Europe, Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Zambia) and the Americas.
Success in securing external research grants and contracts is necessary to boost research funding, and to some degree validates the recognition UP receives as a research-intensive university that undertakes research that has high impact and is relevant to the contexts in which we live.
UP has many projects funded by the NRF, the Department of Science and Innovation, the CSIR, and many other public and private institutions. In 2019, the Department of Research and Innovation added another dimension to funding by considering crowd-funding as a way to generate income to supplement research costs amid declining national budgets in support of research grants. This initiative was supported with funding from the International Research and Exchanges Board. Following the launch of this initiative, two projects were identified for funding using such a crowd-funding platform which will be launched in 2020.
The European Union (EU) remains an important source of funding for global research. UP has been an active participant in the EU’s flagship research funding programme, Horizon 2020, which focuses on establishing international consortia of researchers cooperating globally in various fields to solve complex international problems. UP researchers were members of 12 such consortia in 2019.
External funding increased to R717.8m compared to R658.2m in 2018. This excludes the R237m income generated by Enterprises UP.
Internal funding allocations to research and postgraduate education represented 3.2% of UP’s total budget. In 2019, increased allocations went to postgraduate bursaries R44.2m (2018: R40.2m) and research equipment and maintenance R47.8m (2018: R45.5m).
Number of Research Chairs
Number of research outputs, the highest of all SA universities
First in the world
• To perform a middle ear transplant using 3D printed bones
• To help image the black hole
• To help identify Africa as the birthplace of modern Homo sapiens
• To develop a plant-based vaccine.
Institutions collaborated with
First in Africa
• To house an independent reference and testing facility for the road construction industry
• To “employ” a library service robot.
As an anchor institution, UP is rooted in its communities and plays a central role in their social, cultural and economic wellbeing. As a research-intensive partner, UP is locally responsive, but continental in scope and globally engaged to make a significant contribution to transforming the world.
38 Making a difference locally: community engagement
39 Making a difference nationally: high-profile events
42 Making a difference globally: strategic partnerships
much
as what happens off site and the University of Pretoria (UP) works tirelessly to ensure that it remains relevant by working for society, with society. Our students are encouraged to use their knowledge in a practical way through community engagement in the communities neighbouring our campuses.
It is critical that UP uses the knowledge of its students and staff to make a positive and meaningful difference to the lives of the people in its communities. That UP does so effectively is evidenced by its membership of the University Social Responsibility Network, a network of 16 top universities in the world selected for their responsiveness to their local context.
In 2019, the University, in close collaboration with the Hatfield City Improvement District (CID), continued on a path first embarked upon in 2004, to counteract creeping urban decay in the suburb in which the largest of its campuses is situated. The University collected some
50 000 bags of waste throughout the year, repaired damaged pavements and potholes, and removed unsightly graffiti and illegal posters.
Further efforts to create an attractive environment, especially in the public areas surrounding the Hatfield Campus, resulted in laying down new paving, building flower boxes and providing street seating.
Safety and security in the public spaces through which students and staff have to move to reach the campus and where they spend much of their time also received attention. By deploying private security guards, installing CCTV cameras and a control room, and donating two patrol vehicles to the first satellite Metro Police station in Tshwane, UP has improved the security substantially.
For longer-term impact, UP has developed an urban design framework and a precinct plan for the area surrounding its Hatfield and Hillcrest campuses. Once approved by the Tshwane City Council, this will become City policy to guide future socio-economic and physical development of targeted areas.
UP has run a successful community engagement programme for more than 15 years. Through its nine faculties and student volunteer organisations, the University uses its extensive skills and knowledge base to empower communities with development ventures.
A major part of this community engagement is curricular (involving 300 modules), where students earn credits towards their degrees while applying their knowledge in the service of the community. Each academic programme includes at least one community engagement component. Besides providing an in-depth learning experience for students, these opportunities help develop their skills in managing relationships, solving problems and civic responsibility, which offers our students a competitive edge when entering the world of work.
More than 29 000 undergraduate students are involved in curricular community engagement projects at over 1 000 sites. The Viva Village in Mamelodi’s Alaska Township is a multi- and transdisciplinary community engagement hub in which all faculties are involved. They work together with residents, healthcare workers and clinics to provide a holistic health service. The same is done in Zama-Zama and Plastic View informal settlements, and at the Pop-Up Clinic at Salvokop. In addition, veterinary science students are involved in rural vaccination stations while occupational therapy students work with parents and toddlers on the importance of play in children’s development.
Volunteers from approximately 120 registered student societies also contributed to the various community projects. Other groups who volunteered came from the residences, faculty houses and the SRC. Some 1 000 students were placed in programmes as part of their bursary conditions.
To say that 2019 was an eventful year for UP is an understatement. Two events, though, stand out in marking UP’s status as a leader in the field of transdisciplinary research, while others reinforce the depth of its historical roots and modern-day connections.
The launch of Future Africa as a flagship pan-African research institute, on 29 March, was the culmination
of several years of conceptualisation, planning, design, building construction and knowledge production which started as far back as 2012, when the first set of proposals was presented to the University Executive.
In the run up to the launch day, seminars, workshops and ‘think tank’ sessions were held, which resulted in the identity of Future Africa becoming evident: It is a community, a research hub, a home for scholars from across Africa and the rest of the world, and a meeting place. It provides the physical and intellectual environment for transformation-minded transdisciplinary leaders and innovative business leaders, policymakers, civil servants and civil society to interact and take knowledge forward across disciplines, cultures and generations.
The aim of Future Africa is to promote research that is relevant to Africa. It is well-positioned as a hub for African research networks in collaboration with local and global partners to address the significant challenges that Africa faces as a continent. It deliberately focuses on involving and developing the next generation of scholars who will lead Future Africa’s initiatives and programmes to create a more sustainable version of our world.
Programmes already well-established are the Africa Science Leadership Programme and the Tuks Young Research Leader Programme. In 2019, the Early Career Research Leader Fellowship Programme was launched, with funding support from the Carnegie Foundation in partnership with the NRF.
The launch day was marked by workshops in the morning with the official proceedings taking place during the afternoon and addresses by, among others, the former Minister of Science and Technology, Ms Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane.
Launch of the Javett-UP Art Centre
Heritage Day, 24 September, marked the official launch of the new Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP), which is set to become a popular landmark in the City of Tshwane. The development of the Centre was done in partnership with the Javett Foundation, and it aims to engage students and the public with the creativity and diversity of local and international art and artists.
The launch was an opportunity to experience some of the greatest art of Africa under one roof and close on 1 700 people visited the Centre on the official opening day. The admission fee for the first week was waived, and the public had an opportunity to view this magnificent attraction absolutely free. This is in line with the University’s position of being a public institution that takes seriously its engagement with, and contribution to, the broader society.
Earlier in the year, Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom,
paid a visit to the Javett-UP and endorsed the significance of the Centre for art, heritage and cultural tourism in South Africa.
The centenary celebrations of the Faculty of Humanities were launched with the Dean’s Concert. In addition to the UP Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gerben Grooten, various performers added to the lustre. These included pianist, Steinway Artist and senior music lecturer Dr Ben Schoeman, classical voice programme leader in the School of Arts Dr Hanli Stapela, student and mezzosoprano Monica Mhangwana, singer and vocal coach Mxolisi Duda and production manager and theatre performer Phuti Matuba.
The Motsepe Foundation and UP partnered in an event to acknowledge and commemorate some of the gains made to achieve gender equity in South Africa. They also explored what has not been achieved and why there appear to be structural and political bottlenecks. The purpose of this initiative was to elevate the voices of young people, to drive policy and share solutions to the problems facing their generation. The University of Cape Town (UCT), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of the Free State (UFS) also participated.
UP hosted the World Bank’s release of its South Africa economic update, entitled Tertiary education enrolments must rise. The event, held at Future Africa, was attended by Minister Naledi Pandor. The World Bank report asserts that government’s decision to subsidise free education
to poor students will put a strain on the fiscus, and will ultimately be unsustainable.
The Institute for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP ISMC) co-hosted the 5th Southern African Malaria Research Conference with the South African Medical Research Council (MRC) at Future Africa. The gala dinner was attended by UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Tawana Kupe, the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize and the President of the South African Medical Research Council, Prof Glenda Gray. The Minister launched the Malaria National Strategic Plan during this dinner.
Other important events included:
• The 4th South African Japanese Universities (SAJU) conference with the theme: The human being in the 21st Century in the context of global changes
• The annual Inyathelo Leadership Retreat marked the 10th leadership event hosted by Inyathelo in partnership with the Kresge Foundation. The Kresge Foundation has contributed US$22.4m to strengthen capacity development in South African higher education over the past decade.
At The Conversation, a meeting of The Global Editors of The Conversation and Conversation Africa, UP’s Vice-Chancellor spoke on the role of science in the era of fake news and fallacies. This was followed by a panel discussion with panellists including a highly respected group of journalists and academics. What makes The Conversation exceptional is that news and views are sourced from the academic and research community, and taken directly into the public domain.
The number of collaborators and potential collaborators on University projects has increased exponentially, and international institutions are vying for the opportunity to partner with UP in new and exciting projects.
UP attended the launch of a major cross-continental research institute, The Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT) focused on food, agriculture, health, the environment and sustainability, at the University of Montpellier in France. UP is the only South African university chosen to join some of the leading research universities with strengths in these areas. The mission of MAK’IT is to “analyse, accompany and accelerate agri-food, environmental and health transitions necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. UP stands to benefit from the partnerships and collaborations which include joint research and staff and student exchanges.
UP also became the first South African partner of the Michigan State University-led alliance for African partnership (MSU-AAP). The University of Pretoria was confirmed as the 10th member of the alliance when the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding. This alliance focuses on global challenges as expressed in six themes: agri-foods systems, culture, health and nutrition, water, energy and the environment, youth empowerment and collaboration.
The following Memoranda of Agreement were signed between UP and local and international partners, which will contribute to improving its international visibility and the quality of its research:
• The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia – to collaborate on learning and research support in the car manufacturing and transport industries in South Africa. Other Gauteng partners are Wits and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). This agreement also addresses three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) – to investigate where
FANRPAN and UP could work symbiotically for greater impact in the food, agriculture and natural resource sectors across the African continent
• The Council for the Built Environment – to provide a framework to enhance the built environment in South Africa through a strategic partnership with UP.
In 2019, the University’s community engagement initiatives were further strengthened by its involvement with European Research Universities+ (ERASMUS+), UNIversity COmmunity LeaRNing (UNICORN), the Talloires Network, the University Social Responsibility Network (USRN) – representing universities involved in large-scale community engagement, and the South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum (SAHECEF).
Seven students used their mid-year break to travel 10 000km in 21 days and covered seven countries on their way to Kenya to assist with basic medical care in remote parts of Africa and to broaden their horizons to the beautiful African continent. Monetary and other donations were received and the University hosted a function to thank donors upon the students’ return.
33 000
Number of students involved in community outreach programmes
• Only SA university chosen to join The Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions
• First South African partner of the Michigan State University-led alliance for African partnership
• Only SA university member of the global University Social Responsibility Network
Transformation at UP is the engine for excellence and a driver for ensuring success in teaching, learning and research. It is a multifaceted catalyst for creating conditions in which everyone can thrive. 46 Student inclusivity
The University continues to prioritise transformation. It is committed to
ensuring that transformation permeates every aspect of UP, thereby ensuring that UP is home to student and staff populations that represent South Africa’s rich diversity and providing the conditions necessary for its diverse campus community to feel supported and valued. We regard it as our duty to focus on transformation in all spheres of society and the economy.
The UP student demographic profile has steadily changed over past years. Where approximately 52% of UP’s contact students were black in 2015, this percentage increased to nearly 60% in 2019. Of this, the majority (56%) are women.
UP’s educational approach has a strong focus on inclusivity, equitable access to education, and equity of outcomes. Contact sessions in traditional lectures, seminars, laboratories and practicals are effectively supplemented with online learning platforms – the so-called hybrid model, in which additional activities, notes, resources and videos to supplement classes are provided online. This has enabled access and success
for an increasing number of students. Also of note is that the Mamelodi Social Innovation Space enables access for students who do not initially earn entry to University programmes, but who have the potential to do so if provided with nurturing and supportive programmes.
The University also uses various strategies to enhance the participation and success of all its students but most especially, students from low-income families and disadvantaged backgrounds. UP has for many years been providing funding support to enable access for financially disadvantaged students. The University’s large portfolio of bursaries consists of UP’s own funds, funds raised through donations, gifts, grants, and funding administered on behalf of third parties such as state departments, foundations and provincial governments. It also has a strategic bursary fund to ensure that its diversity targets in undergraduate and postgraduate student numbers are met.
Transformation is a mainstream activity in the University’s student life environment. While students have the right to freedom of association, specific participation and content criteria are established to ensure inclusivity in all formal
UP’s Transformation Plan 20172021 identifies the following transformation goals for the University:
• Ensure access to a diverse student body that reflects the demographic mix and social complexity of South Africa
Our staff
• Significantly reduce and ultimately eliminate differential student success and graduation rates based on race, gender, class and other critical variables
• Realise employment equity targets as set in the University’s Employment Equity Plan
• Enhance research capacity and productivity of black and women academics
• Engender institutional cultures and practices that are welcoming to students and staff from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
student life activities organised by recognised student structures of the University. This applies in the residence environment and to day students. The aim is to provide student life activities that are welcoming to the widest variety of students possible, including undergraduate, postgraduate, international students and students with disabilities.
Transformation is a key element of all student leadership development and training programmes offered by the University. Topics include diversity sensitisation,
Female academic staff were honoured by a wide range of organisations.
• Prof Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Director of the School of Public Management and Administration in the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, has been appointed to serve as a member of the Science Advisory Council of the Stockholm Environment Institute.
• Professors Armanda Bastos and Marthán Bester from the Department of Zoology and Entomology were announced as fellows of the Royal Society of South Africa (RSSAf).
• Prof Hettie Schönfeldt received the Nevin Scrimshaw Award for her contribution throughout her research career to generating uniquely country-specific food data for the African region.
• Prof Esté van Marle-Köster, Head of UP’s Department of Animal and Wildlife Sciences, was honoured as the Gauteng Agriculturist of the Year by the Agricultural Writers South Africa for a lifetime of work in the livestock sector.
• Dr Christel Hansen in the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology was awarded the Society of South African Geographers (SSAG) Centenary Award.
gender and sexuality awareness, the positive power of language, cultural diversity and good citizenship. The SRC has, among its portfolios, an elected transformation champion who coordinates activities and ensures that the transformation committee functions effectively. All student leadership structures have transformation portfolios and those members who occupy the portfolio together form the student sub-council on transformation, a forum for student leaders to contribute to the transformation agenda of the university. Furthermore, new and additional student structures were established to advance safety and wellness and work on initiatives to address issues of gender-based violence and discrimination. These included: SpeakOUT@UP; The Student Wellness Committee; and ManDown, a structure comprising young men dedicated to addressing genderbased violence.
As part of a broader strategy of transforming the residence cultures, the University renamed several student residences to represent the diversity of South African languages. This was done after a process of consultation with all the stakeholders. In the University residence dining halls, menus have been changed over the years to address the specific needs and preferences of a changing student demographic.
Diversity in UP’s staff composition is central to its research and institutional identity, and is an important aspect of pursuing excellence in meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.
The University continues to make positive progress in this regard. Black staff comprise 65% of the total headcount (2018: 62% ) while black academic staff stands at 26% (2018: 24%).
Talent development programmes will further this momentum.
In 2016 the DHET introduced nGAP to address the academic staffing needs in disciplinary areas in which the
need is greatest. DHET provides funding of R2.5m per academic post over a six-year period, which provides for the salary, mentorship, doctoral/postdoctoral studies, equipment, and conference attendance costs per post. UP has created a co-funding facility to supplement the funding provided by the DHET.
UP accepted and filled all 19 positions offered to it by the DHET between 2016 and 2019, and women make up 68% of the total. Eight of the nGAP candidates have completed their PhDs, five confirmed submission during 2020 and the remaining six nGAP lecturers are progressing according to plan.
The Programme for Academic Leadership (PAL), offered through the University’s business school, the Gordon Institute of Business (GIBS), was introduced in 2013 as an academic leadership and development strategy. The programme provides a foundation for developing an academic leadership career, and 73 senior academics have thus far attended PAL. Four of them have since been promoted to dean, four to deputy dean and 14 to heads of academic departments.
The UP Leadership Programme (UPLP) focuses on developing the general leadership acumen of academics and professional services leaders. It was implemented exclusively for newly appointed deans and deputy deans and directors or deputy directors of professional services departments.
Formalised in 2018, the UP Executive Coaching Programme offers coaching to all newly appointed deans and directors, as well as to a selection of deputy deans. The aim of the programme is to maximise leadership potential. In total, nine senior line managers of the University have participated thus far.
Through the Disability Unit, UP provides academic, technological, physical and psychosocial support to
Tactile warning tiles alert people with visual disabilities of approaching streets or changes on the road ahead.
students with disabilities to ensure they can participate in activities both inside and outside the formal classroom environment and are integrated into student social life. The Unit caters for undergraduate and postgraduate students with visual, hearing, physical, learning, psychological and chronic medical disabilities.
UP had 762 students with declared disabilities receiving direct support from the Disability Unit in 2019. There were 1 225 walk-in consultations and 1 543 tests and examinations written with the support of the Disability Unit. A total of 382 applications for time concession for examinations and tests were processed. Of these, 42 students who did not have medical aid were assessed at no cost. Mobility training sessions were presented to 25 new first-year students with visual disabilities, while 51 bursary applications and two National Benchmark Tests were facilitated. Training in assistive technology was provided as well as editing of text pages that were converted into accessible formats for students with disabilities.
The UP orientation and mobility training of students with visual disabilities enjoys the support and sponsorship of the South African Guide Dogs Association for the Blind.
Thirteen students with disabilities completed their undergraduate degrees in 2019, two of these with distinction, while 11 graduates with disabilities will pursue postgraduate studies at UP in 2020.
UP has an ongoing project to improve universal access to all of its buildings on all campuses. It has also been carrying out tactile paving of its campuses to help staff and students who are visually impaired to safely and easily move around the University. The tactile warning tiles are detectable by long cane or underfoot, and are used to alert persons with visual disabilities of approaching streets and hazardous surfaces or grade changes.
The University’s new language policy, approved by Council in June 2016, was fully implemented in 2019 with no serious challenges.
A range of policies that deal with various aspects of discrimination, sexual harassment and hate speech, have been developed over the years. In 2017, UP started consolidating these policies, which resulted in an overarching Anti-Discrimination Policy. The new policy was approved in 2019 and is now being implemented.
A Transformation Office provides a dedicated resource to address issues involving any form of discrimination.
An Institutional Transformation Committee (ITC) has representatives from the Executive, Transformation Committees within each faculty and each professional services department, the various staff labour organisations and the students. The ITC worked closely with the Transformation Manager and the Centre for Sexualities, Aids and Gender during 2019 to offer training on the Anti-Discrimination Policy and Sexual Harassment, and will work closely with the Transformation Office in designing, developing and implementing transformation initiatives across UP.
Overall, the University has made significant progress towards realising the goals of transformation. We have nurtured a diverse community of outstanding academic and support staff and students; succeeded in creating an awareness of diversity and the value of transformation; and improved employment equity representation at all levels.
Thabang Manamela, who lost his sight at an early age, graduated with an LLB degree. In 2014, he started studying for a BA general degree and was admitted to the LLB degree programme in 2015. He had to get used to electronic learning at the University as he was used to using Braille at school. Currently a candidate attorney, he is working towards being admitted as an attorney, conveyancer and notary.
Tinyiko Gwambe graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work degree with distinction and is pursuing her postgraduate studies. She was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a congenital disorder characterised by the absence or malformation of the limbs. This wheelchair-bound graduate is planning to pursue her master’s degree in social development and policy in the Department of Social Work and Criminology.
13
Successful graduates with disabilities 11 Pursuing postgraduate studies at UP in 2020 2
Completed their undergraduate degrees with distinction
Four-time cancer survivor
Lisa Sanders graduated with a master’s degree in translation and interpreting studies from the Department of African Languages. She suffers from a rare condition, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which greatly increases the risk of cancer. She also lost her leg due to surgical complications at the age of 10. She plans to do her PhD in Japanese Studies at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan.
Erika Barnard graduated from the Faculty of Theology. She has familial dysautonomia, an extremely rare genetic disorder that impairs the function of the entire autonomic nervous system. This didn’t hold her back, however, as she completed her four-year degree in a record three years and won an award from the Vice-Chancellor and Principal for her high marks throughout her studies. She intends to further her studies.
Sustainability represents UP’s resilience to survive disruption and change, and UP is resolutely building a culture that connects to healthy economic, social and environmental systems.
54 Ensuring continued financial sustainability
56 Building a sustainable infrastructure
It may be as obvious as ensuring student success and retention or using its natural resources wisely. It may be as subtle as diversifying revenue streams or investing in appropriate information and communication technology.
Financial sustainability is crucial for the future of UP and the higher education sector at large. No fee increases or limited increases in tuition fees since 2016 has led to concerns about the stability and financial sustainability of the higher education sector in general.
In order to maintain its financial health, UP developed a financial sustainability plan, which was approved by the Council of the University. The main purpose of the plan is to develop a university-wide programme, "SustainUP", to which students and staff contribute through innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives to the long-term sustainability of the University.
Key actions to achieve the goals of the plan include:
• Investing in student success through a “smart enrolment approach” that focuses on growth at postgraduate level, an increase in international
student numbers and the development of a fullyfunded student model.
• Addressing the challenges of student completion and success rates, which have an impact on subsidy income.
• Managing human resources to ensure a high performance ethic among all staff and optimal support for the University’s strategy.
• Promoting the concept of efficient and effective operations that are managed well in terms of cost and incorporate the value-for-money principle.
• Enhancing the use of information technology (IT) to improve services and reduce costs. The University will continue to prioritise IT projects that enhance efficiency, improve operations and administrative processes, and enrich teaching, learning and research.
• Maintaining, developing and using the University's fixed assets and facilities, including income-generating assets (such as venues and sporting facilities), to meet its future academic, research and social needs, strengthen project management capabilities internally, maintain environmental sustainability, and optimise and repurpose space and facilities, where possible.
• Generating third-stream income, including fundraising campaigns, and developing partnerships aimed at external research funding.
Enterprises University of Pretoria Proprietary Limited (Enterprises UP), which develops, implements and manages the business activities of the University, plays a significant role in generating alternative sources of funding. The company successfully expanded its footprint in the business and governmental sectors in South Africa and internationally, resulting in a total turnover of R237m in 2019.
Research Solutions generated research funding to the value of R78m through its applied research outputs, offering more than 50 areas of functional expertise and capability. Training Solutions generated development and training funds to the value of R159m by diversifying its catalogue of 537 customised training programmes and short courses, thus contributing even more substantially to socio-economic development in South Africa and beyond.
More than 370 public institutions and 950 companies in South Africa made use of the contract research and consulting offerings and training products.
The 2019 fundraising target was R90m and by the end of December 2019, R150m had been raised. New donors included the African Rainbow Minerals Education Trust that donated R7m to fund the UP Technology Fund, enhancements in nuclear medicine research and further research into the world’s first middle ear transplant.
Other first-time donors are Total SA (R1m), KSB Pumps (R1.2m) and Bollore Logistics (R1m). These funds are for bursaries to assist previously disadvantaged students to continue their studies. Major bursary donations were also received from IBM (R500 000); Widney (R113 000); Shaping Futures (R360 000); FassetSETA (R9.8m); InSETA (R1.4m); Samsung (R1.4m); SAP (R8.8m); and the MasterCard Foundation (R49m as an annual grant).
Further significant new donations included:
• National Skills Fund: R23.7m for the Faculty of Veterinary Science to establish wildlife teaching facilities
• The Dippenaar Family Trust: R10m towards the Javett-
• Financial sustainability in terms of solvency, liquidity and cash flow
• An ecologically and economically sustainable infrastructure
• A UP precinct that creates an enabling environment for staff and students to excel
• A diverse and talented cohort of students, academic and professional staff
• Integration of sustainability principles in all University operations.
UP, a contribution recognised in the naming of one of the galleries
• Kresge Foundation: R1.3m (the final tranche of a R4.5m grant) for the Hatfield and Mamelodi anchor projects.
The Andrew Mellon Foundation made substantial donations to two projects in the Faculty of Humanities:
• Entanglement, Mobility and Improvisation: Culture and Arts in Contemporary African Urbanism and its Hinterlands (R10.3m).
• Critical Food Studies: Transdisciplinary Humanities Approaches, which UP will undertake with the Universities of the Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal (total value R12m, with R3.4m being the UP portion).
UP’s Spatial Development Plan was developed in 2019 to provide direction for the future physical development of the University.
UP’s infrastructure includes more than 700 buildings dating back to the early 1900s. More than one-third of the buildings are classified as heritage buildings and are subject to the provisions of the National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999. The University has a conservation management plan to ensure the sustainability of these buildings.
The planning, design and construction of sustainable infrastructure are key elements of the University’s approach to sustainability. All newly designed buildings and refurbishment projects focus on energy-efficient designs with regard to power and water usage, waste handling as well as ventilation and air-conditioning.
The University has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to supplement its electricity supply by installing photovoltaic (PV) panels on various existing and new buildings. This project started in 2018 and was expanded in 2019.
An emergency back-up water system has been installed at the Onderstepoort Campus and a newly established water management task team is investigating other water
harvesting initiatives, including retention ponds and sustainable urban drainage systems.
The University aims to ensure that its ICT systems keep abreast of international developments to address the needs related to the 4IR and beyond, as well as to use ICT as a resource for UP’s scientific work, its management of knowledge, interaction with students and staff, and for the efficient administration of the University. In 2018, UP improved the ICT infrastructure for research and reviewed the networking infrastructure with a specific focus on cyber security issues. UP’s first mobile application was successfully launched during August 2019.
Technology in lecture venues and student computer laboratories is continuously being enhanced in order to improve the teaching and learning experience. In 2019, UP expanded high-density Wi-Fi coverage to 400 lecture venues across all campuses, upgraded Audio Visual equipment in lecture venues, and renewed technology in Student Computer Laboratories. The Wi-Fi infrastructure within lecture venues has made it possible to launch the mobile clicker project. Students are now able to use clicker software from their mobile devices, which negates the use of expensive proprietary clicker systems.
An increasing number of students are making use of their personal computing devices for academic work or to access the Internet and other UP systems through the Wi-Fi network. This has led to a dedicated Student IT Hub being established to provide technical support to students. The team supports more than 7 000 students annually. Poor student computer literacy has been identified as one of the contributing factors to the less than satisfactory first-year success rate at the University and a project was initiated to identify a suitable software solution to address this challenge.
To ensure uninterrupted service, UP also upgraded its IT servers and data storage facilities. This included establishing a second data centre to address the risk associated with recovery of institutional data in the event of damage to the current single data centre. The server hardware upgrade has been completed, while the second
data centre is in operation. Software migration to the new platform is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
Effective conservation strategies
Over the past ten years UP has been working to save energy, and to reduce water consumption as well as its carbon footprint. In 2019, we saw a small saving of 0.02% in water consumption compared to 2018 even though two large facilities, Future Africa and Javett-UP, were added. The savings amounted to R2.58m.
Furthermore, UP reduced electricity consumption by 4.18% compared to 2018, which contributed to a saving of R9.5m. This includes the cost of the Power Purchase Agreement where 462MWh was generated from solar power installations.
UP is a major generator of general waste (recyclable, food waste and garden waste). During 2019, a total of 167 072kg of waste was recycled and an amount of R187 768 was received in rebates. This was a 19.76% increase in recycling compared to the same period in 2018. Recycling activities in 2019 contributed to saving 2 423 trees, 214 472 litres of oil, 5 880 395 litres of water, 1 154m3 of landfill space and 4 555 402t CO2 e pollutants.
Recycling gains
167 072kg
Waste recycled 19.7%
Increase in recycling efforts
What we saved through recycling
• 2 423 trees
• 214 472 litres of oil
• 5 880 395 litres of water
• 1 154m3 of landfill space
• 4 555 402t CO2 e pollutants
Target R90m Actual R150m Fundraising success
Enterprises UP contribution to UP funds 67+ n Training Solutions R159m n Research Solutions R78m
Upgrading of the compost and mulch production facility on the Hillcrest Campus has substantially decreased the need to transport garden refuse to landfill sites. We produced compost and mulch to the value of approximately R1.6m and this was used on all the University property. The use of mulch in plant beds on UP campuses and properties will result in a decreased need for irrigation water, the prevention of weed infestation and the creation of healthier soils. UP infrastructure
33+ n 1/3 classified as heritage buildings n 700 Buildings
The University’s total income increased by R564m to R7 611m during the reporting period.
The main source of income remains the block grant received from government, together with earmarked grants in respect of veterinary sciences, clinical training, foundation year programmes and university capacity development initiatives. Subsidy income, including restricted earmarked grants, increased by 15.6% when compared to 2018.
The second main source of income, tuition fees, increased by R13m. The Department of Higher Education and Training, together with the USAf Board, agreed a 5.3% tuition fee increase for 2019.
Profits on disposal of investments and forex gains improved when compared to 2019, primarily due to a recovery of the financial markets since 2018.
The decrease in income from contracts and services was due to a slight decrease in income from contract research, continuing education, grants received from statutory institutions and grants received from abroad.
Total income of the University of Pretoria for 2019
Personnel costs increased by 9.5% (2018: 8.2%), and operating expenses increased by 17.0% (2018: 10.6%). The main contributing factor to the personnel cost increase is the insourcing of previously outsourced services. The increase in operating expenses is influenced primarily by an increase in operating expenses from externally funded activities.
The University has a diversified investment portfolio that is governed by the Investment Committee of Council. The diagram below sets out the structure of the University in relation to investment matters:
Overall oversight
Responsible for investment strategy within the mandate agreed by Council
Responsible for ongoing monitoring and implementation Investment–related
The University’s Investment Funds are designed to serve three purposes, namely to meet:
• part of the short-term requirements of the University – these liabilities have a maximum term of 24 months. The risk profile emphasises the need for capital protection over short periods and a high degree of liquidity.
• the long-term liabilities (5 years and more) of the University – the main requirement here is a good investment return relative to inflation over the long term.
• the requirements of a special class of the long-term liabilities being the post- retirement medical aid benefits.
The University aligns its investment philosophy to the term of the liabilities and the risk profile. To this end, three investment portfolios have been established:
• Money Market Portfolio
• Long Term Capital Portfolio
• Continuation Medical Aid Portfolio
The University follows an investment strategy that rebalances between Long Term Capital and Money Market portfolios according to the cash flow requirements of the University, based on a rolling working capital budget, which accounts for the cash flows of major projects over a rolling 15-month period.
The graph below gives an indication of the University’s diversified investment portfolio over the past three years. The increased proportion of foreign investments in 2019 should provide the investment portfolio with better resilience to market volatility as a consequence of the COVID-19 virus.
University’s investment portfolio
Global equities
SA Equities
SA Absolute Other
SA Listed Property
SA Money Market
The University of Pretoria had satisfactory results for the financial year ended 31 December 2019. The difficult economic conditions remained challenging during the year, as well as the continued implications of the insourcing of previously outsourced staff. The proportion of personnel costs to total expenses remains a focus area, especially considering higher than CPI annual salary increases.
Despite the challenging environment, the University has displayed satisfactory financial performance for 2019. The University will continue with initiatives to limit the growth of expenditure and also to pursue innovative ways to utilise its resources and obtain a greater proportion of third-stream income to fund the shortfall in core activities.
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2019
Our Vision is to be a leading research intensive university in Africa, recognised internationally for its quality, relevance and impact, and also for developing people, creating knowledge and making a difference locally and globally.
Our Goals are to:
• enhance access and successful student learning
• strengthen the University’s research and international profile
• foster and sustain a transformed, inclusive, and equitable University community
• optimise resources and enhance institutional sustainability
• strengthen the University’s social responsiveness and impact in society.
