2012 Annual Report

During 2012, the Council of the NWU remained committed to ensure the effectiveness of its governance and oversight function. The concerted effort embarked upon during 2011 to improve the attendance of Council and Council committee meetings in order to ensure quality decision-making continued during 2012.
A self-evaluation exercise was undertaken during the second semester of 2012.
Members of Council and the respective Council committees completed a self-evaluation questionnaire to evaluate the role and functioning of the various governing structures in respect of their mandates. The evaluations focused particularly on risk management, adherence to good corporate governance principles, discipline and members’ understanding of Council’s oversight role.

The size, composition and independence of the structures, as well as the effectiveness of the leadership, teamwork, meetings and annual workshop, were also evaluated. From the results of this self-evaluation, it is evident that Council is independent in its decision-making process and clearly understands its governance role in relation to the day-to-day management role assigned to the Vice-Chancellor. The lines of responsibility between the governing structures and management are clearly demarcated and observed. There is coherence and alignment between Council, the Council Committees and management in working towards and reaching shared goals. The self-evaluation also confirmed that the respective structures are functioning effectively and succeed in concluding their business at their meetings.