2008 Annual Report

We began the year in serious financial difficulties. The 2007 calendar year had left us with an operating deficit of R136-million, and the assessors’ report called the
university ‘technically insolvent’. Liabilities had exceeded assets by a massive R537-million.

The year under review was dominated by our efforts to reverse this undesirable situation. Working with the IOP implementation team, we concentrated our efforts in four areas. The first was to review and where necessary modify our academic structures and programmes, using financial viability as a fundamental criterion.
The second was to improve the university’s management information systems. The third was to re-engineer business processes and clean up all databases. The fourth was to review the administrative support function and where necessary modify staff numbers and services provided.