2020 Annual Report

 It was the first time that USAf had to operate within the context of a pandemic, strategically and logistically. Nothing could have equipped me to lead USAf through this unprecedented crisis and it was achieved by simply doing what needed to be done. In retrospect, I see that my first year at the helm of this organisation has enriched me in unexpected and bountiful ways.
Although we have always been aware of the inequality of our system, this was magnified when CoViD-19 struck in March 2020. Trading conditions in an already struggling economy, deteriorated further and the pandemic continues to exacerbate the existing disparities in our society. We will, for a long time, continue to feel the impact of this pandemic on day-to-day operations of our universities. Early in the pandemic, research indicated that 50% of our students were having trouble taking up emergency online learning. However, we, as the Board of Directors, undertook to ensure that no student would be left behind and we remained steadfast in our commitment until the end of the academic year. 

The year 2020 will be remembered as a period in which the CoViD-19 pandemic applied a severe stress test on society. Our 26 public universities were not spared. Its impact on their staff and students continues to be profound. In the end, the challenge was to understand how best to complete the 2020 academic year in such
a way that the process remained maximally inclusive and to ensure that the quality of teaching, learning and research were not compromised. But this was also an opportunity to rethink the way we do things as a system.
The crisis provided the opportunity to build and harvest the benefits of collaboration, collegiality, partnershipbuilding and collective decision-making.
During the reporting period, the USAf Board of Directors had no fewer than eight meetings, three of which were regular scheduled meetings while five were special sittings addressing the challenges of and enabling a collective response to the pandemic. From the outset, a set of principles was established. The first was the
idea that we would work as a sector while understanding the diversity of the institutions in it. The second was to work in close partnership and collaboration with DHET, DSI, TENET, NSFAS, CHE, Higher Health and others.
The third, and most important, was to ensure that students would not be left behind because of the shift to emergency teaching and especially due to the lack of connectivity.