University of Cape Town

The Council of UCT at its meeting of December 2020 affirmed the future strategic planning framework for the university as presented in the document entitled: Vision 2030: Unleash human potential to create a fair and just society. The four goals of Vision 2030 are:o An organisational ethos that supports new ways of thinking, being and doingo Providing thought leadership on social justiceo Offering a holistic, innovative, future oriented educationo Research solving Afrika’s problemsIn June 2021 Council approved the Vision 2030 Implementation Plan that set out focus areas and high-level objectives for the period 2021-2025, described in three broad areas, namely the Teaching and Learning Portfolio (mainly related to the goal of Offering a holistic, innovative, future-oriented education), the ResearchPortfolio (mainly covering the goal of Research solving Afrika’s problems), and Operations in support of the Academic Project Portfolio (mainly Achieving an organisational ethos that supports new ways of thinking, being and doing, and Providing thought leadership on social justice).

In June 2021 Council approved the Vision 2030 Implementation Plan that set out focus areas and high level objectives for the period 2021–2025, described in three broad areas, namely the Teaching and Learning Portfolio (mainly related to the goal of Offering a holistic, innovative, future-oriented education), the Research Portfolio (mainly covering the goal of Research solving Afrika’s problems) and Operations in support of the Academic Project Portfolio (mainly Achieving an organisational ethos that supports new ways of thinking, being and doing, and Providing thought leadership on social justice).

UCT has been addressing the challenge of increasing the number of black South African academics on its academic staff for at least the last ten years. Despite these systemic efforts, progress has been slow, with the designated groups (including black South Africans, women and persons with disability) still under-represented at the level of associate professor and professor. An Action Plan for Accelerated Transformation at UCT (which served at the October 2020 Council Meeting) flowed from the recently published Report from the Ministerial Task Team on the recruitment, retention and progression of black South African academic staff; conversations that the Vice-Chancellor had with stakeholders to better understand specific barriers; and a request by Council for a plan that speaks to the identification of current gaps in transformation and ways to address them. The action plan focuses on the need to accelerate the recruitment of black South African staff, in particular, at the level of the professoriate. It also acknowledges the need to attract and retain black South African postgraduate students to feed into a pipeline to be considered for academic positions. Improving the throughput rate of black South African postgraduate students is an important part of the plan to accelerate transformation: the Action Plan focuses on the need to ensure that all black South African postgraduate students graduate within the allocated timeline for their degrees, to facilitate access into an academic career and the economy more broadly. This will require dedicated and focused support. The plan includes two key components: (1) the expansion of the VC employment equity fund; and (2) an academic pipeline programme and enhanced ..

UCT has been addressing the challenge of increasing the number of black South African academics on its academic staff for at least the last ten years. Despite these systemic efforts, progress has been slow, with the designated groups (including black South Africans, women and persons with disability) still under-represented at the level of associate professor and professor. An Action Plan for Accelerated Transformation at UCT (which served at the October 2020 Council Meeting) flowed from the recently published Report from the Ministerial Task Team on therecruitment, retention and progression of black South African academic staff; conversations that the Vice-Chancellor had with stakeholders to better understand specific barriers; and a request by Council for a plan that speaks to the identification of current gaps in transformation and ways to address them. The action plan focuses on the need to accelerate the recruitment of black South African staff, in particular, at the level of the professoriate. It also acknowledges the need to attractand retain black South African postgraduate students to feed into a pipeline to be considered for academic positions. Improving the throughput rate of black South African postgraduate students is an important part of the plan to accelerate transformation: the Action Plan focuses on the need to ensure that all black South African postgraduate students graduate within the allocated timeline for their degrees, to facilitate access into an academic career and the economy more broadly. This will require dedicated and focused support. The plan includes two key components: (1) the expansion of the VC employment equity fund; and (2) an academic pipeline programme and enhanced ..

The report on UCT operations consists of four sections. The first section deals with a reflection on executive objectives for 2018, including those specifically derived from UCT’s Strategic Plan 2016-2020, but also more broadly in relation to the physical plant and other operational areas. The second section deals with a quantitative analysis of our student body in relation to our enrolment plan and our academic staffing capacity. This analysis also covers overall student enrolment and demographic profiles, student academic performance and student housing provision. All universities receive several earmarked grants for specific purposes from the Department of Higher Education and Training, and the third section in this chapter provides an update on the progress in utilising these grants. The last section of this report deals with the reports of Senate to Council.

The report on UCT operations consists of five sections. The first two sections deal with a reflection on executive objectives for 2017, including those specifically derived from UCT’s Strategic Plan 2016-2020 (26 of these, out of 64 objectives in the whole plan) but also more broadly in relation to the physical plant andother operational areas. The third section deals with a quantitative analysis of our student body in relation to our enrolment plan and our academic staffing capacity. This analysis also covers overall student enrolment and demographic profiles, student academic performance and student housing provision. All universitiesreceive several earmarked grants for specific purposes from the Department of Higher Education and Training and the fourth section in this chapter providesan update on the progress in utilising these grants. The last section of this report deals with the reports of Senate to Council.

The events in 2015 and 2016, catalysed by #RhodesMustFall, #FeesMustFall and #Shackville and other student movements, required stakeholders at the University of Cape Town (UCT) to begin dealing more urgently with the multiple struggles of poverty and discrimination that face our students on and off campus.In early 2016, a deliberate focus was introduced at the university to co-construct a University of Cape Town that embeds transformation in its changing identity. The culmination of more than two years of dialogue and consultation, the UCT Strategic Planning Framework 2016-2020 is an acknowledgement of the need to shift our understanding of what transformation at UCT means. The strategic focus on transformation builds on the best of UCT’s present and past, while interrogating the historical values and assumptions that inform our institutional culture, and our ways of knowing, seeing and teaching. The interrogation of coloniality should therefore lead us to addressing practices which are experienced as exclusionary by marginalised identities within UCT and imagining alternative practices, epistemologies, policies and systems, which advance social justice, enable different ways of ‘being’ and contribute tosustainable development. The Strategic Planning Framework (approved by Council in December 2016) details five broad strategic goals that effect improvements in the areas of research, teaching and learning, internationalisation and social responsiveness while infusing all of these with the transformation agenda. 

At the end of 2009 the Council approved a Strategic Plan for the University for the period 2010 – 2014. The process of developing the new strategic plan by the Senior Leadership Group started towards the end of 2014 and continued early in 2015. A process of consultation was launched at a workshop of Academic heads of department in early April 2015. This workshop took place against the backdrop of the launch of the #RhodesMustFall movement and the Black Academic Caucus. These movements had raised concerns about the slow pace and limited conception of transformation within the University. The HODs endorsed the need to accelerate the pace, and broaden the scope of transformation. As a result, the Executive decided to request the Council to extend the period of the previous Strategic plan to the end of 2015 to allow for time to revise the plan and consult with keystakeholders about a proposed new direction for the University. Council acceded to this request. Hence the framework of the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan was used to set the objectives for UCT’s 2015 Annual Performance Plan and members of the Executive. The framework was also used to organise this report on progress with regard to the predetermined objectives approved by Council in order to demonstrate the alignment of these objectives with the Strategic Plan. Reports on the pre-determined objectives pertaining to capital expenditure and finance are contained in the sections of the Report on the Annual Financial Review and in the Report of the Chair of Council. Satisfactory progress has been made in relation to the pre-determined objectives based ..

2014 was the last year of our Strategic Plan 2010 – 2014. An evaluation18 of the Plan was undertaken based on an analysis of progress made in relation to 57 indicators. Both quantitative and qualitative assessments were done.

The Institutional Forum (IF) Report to Council is presented in five sections. The first section reflects on the IF’s mandate, and how the IF executed its mandate in 2013; section two examines issues the IF considered in 2013; section three analyses activities and progress made in 2013; section four considers the challenges facing the IF; and section five provides some recommendations.1. IF mandateThe IF of a public higher education institute must advise the Council on issues affecting the University, includingbut not limited to, the following:a) the implementation of the [Higher Education] Act and the national policy on higher educationb) race and gender equity policiesc) the selection of candidates for senior management positionsd) codes of conduct, mediation and dispute resolution procedurese) the fostering of an institutional culture which promotes tolerance and respect for fundamental human rights and creates an appropriate environment for teaching, research and learningf) perform such functions as determined by Council.

Executive-level goals were set for 2012 and these were endorsed by the UniversityCouncil. These goals were aligned to the University’s six strategic goals which areoutlined in the table below. Achievement of these goals was assessed in relation to the performance of the members of the executive team, including the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Deans, Executive Directors and the Registrar. The portfolios of the senior officers often overlap, hence the broader overview of executive performance. The specific sub-sections of this Annual Report provide further detail in respect ofinstitutional activities; projects and initiatives undertaken; successes achieved; andchallenges faced. While some of the projects and initiatives listed in this report arefaculty- and department-related, the list is not comprehensive as the focus is generally on those initiatives that are conducted at an institutional level. While this report focusses on the major projects undertaken in 2012, it is worth noting that routine University-wide operations remained stable. 

Much of our performance must be measured by the day to day management and functioning of the university since all the senior officers – both academic and support staff - ultimately report to me. Thus the performance of the University as reflected in the financial statements, the teaching and learning report, the research report, the reports on UCT’s responsiveness to local and global social issues are all a direct or indirect reflection of the senior executive’s performance. Since these are covered extensively elsewhere in this Annual Report, I will not repeat any of those achievements here. This section therefore reports on the major projects for 2011 which are mostly outside the routine university operations – sometimes reflecting a new activity or a change to current policy and practice, or a once-off project. These were the specific objectives set by the executive and submitted to Council at the start of 2011 in line with the 6 strategic goals plus other management objectives. This is, of course, not a comprehensive list of projects or activities that were the responsibility of Faculties and Departments, but rather the institutional level goals for the year. Italics indicate goals not fully achieved.

Among the achievements were: the successes of staff and students in teaching, learning and research and in social engagement (in the language of business, ourcore business); inspired leadership at many levels; what I believe to be high standards of governance; and effective management that has ensured continued financial strength. The reports that follow provide evidence of considerable achievement in teaching and learning, in research and in socially responsive work of the highest quality. The Annual Financial Review by the Chair of the Finance Committee and the Executive Director Finance, read together with the financial statements to which our reports are a preface, show a robust and financially sound institution, but an institution that balances needs and resources, as it must, very finely. They also reflect on the challenges we face as a University with an Afropolitan vision. At the end of 2009 we set six goals for UCT for the years 2010 to 2014. These goals take as given, first, that the core business of UCT, in teaching and learning and research, will continue and will be conducted at a very high level of quality, and second, that we will remain financially strong. An assessment of the work of UCT must examine, first, how well we are doing in the core business, second, how financially robust we are, and third, what progress we have made in the six goals which aim to give UCT a distinctive edge. 

This report is for the calendar year 2009.It is again a pleasure to report on the work of the University of Cape Town. The reports that follow summarise considerable achievement in teaching and learning, in research and in socially responsive work of the highest quality. And the Annual Financial Review by the Chair of the Finance Committee and the Executive Director Finance, read together with the financial statements to which our reports are apreface, show a robust and financially sound institution, but an institution that balances as it must, needs and resources very finely.