UV Jaaroorsig - University of the Free State

These projects include the Grow Our Own Timber (GOOT)
initiative for academic positions, as well as a SETA/UFS
Workplace Learning Internship for support-services staff.
Approximately R18 million has been set aside in the past
five years for this important strategic priority to allow
faculties and departments to appoint persons from the
designated groups. Every opportunity to employ senior
black and female managers has been utilised.
Employment Equity Plan approved
An Employment Equity Policy was approved in 2005 and
the big step forward was the approval of the EE Plan by
Council in November 2007 following laborious work at
several levels. The UFS employed an alternating top-down
and bottom-up approach to develop a three-year-rolling
plan for employment equity, ensuring that top-manage ment
guidance was provided, yet intensive department, faculty
and sup port-service level input was obtained in the identification
of barriers and the development of the EE measures
and set ting of numerical targets.
The sensitive issue of numerical targets and goals was
thrashed out in producing the plan. An important breakthough
was made by the Empoyment Equity Committee in
reaching consensus on the way to conceptualise and specify
numerical targets. The plan adopts and utilises an important
concept, that of sufficient diversity, first introduced in the
draft Institutional Charter. An important element of the
approved Plan is a quantitative indication of what sufficient
diversity means.
A specific group (black male, black female, white female,
white male) is seen as being sufficiently represented
with in a UFS staff category when it has a 20% or higher
representation. This implies that the appointment of persons
from groups that exceed 20% representation does not count
for employment equity-target attainment. A 20% re pre sentation
per group in each staff category is viewed as the five-
Annual Review • 2007 17
The UFS firmly believes that diversity among staff is an asset that will assist the
institution in its quest for excellence. The Employment Equity (EE) Plan is of the most
crucial areas of concern and a key element of the Transformation Plan.
As at other universities, the problem exists that not all groups are sufficiently
represented in all of the staff categories. While the UFS has made significant progress regarding
all the components of employment equity, progress regarding the black staff profile has
stagnated over the past three years. It has thus become essential to set more specific and realistic
numerical targets and to formulate additional plans and projects to achieve these targets.
year target. Every available opportunity should also be
utilised to appoint people with disabilities.
In addition, for the designated groups as a whole, sufficient
diversity was defined as a minimum of 50% representation
for the designated groups as a whole for each
UFS staff category. These targets of 50% are to be attained
within the next five years.
Since the approval of the policy a lot of work was
done by the EE sub-committees and the Central EE Committee
to produce EE plans for the various faculties and
sup port-service units. The targets may also have implications
for staff categories where a below-20% white male
or white female complement is present, e.g. garden or
cleaning services.
The EE Plan constitutes compliance by the UFS with
its statutory obligation in terms of the Employment Equity
Act, No. 55 of 1998. The plan is the core component of the
UFS programme to achieve its strategic priority of equity,
diversity and redress.
The plan is a firm, objective commitment by the UFS
and its stakeholders, embodying timeframes, goals and
positive, measurable measures whereby the UFS can
achieve substantial progress in implementing and creating
a consolidated understanding and roadmap for employment
equity at the UFS.
The current picture is one where the academic staff
numbers are increasing, but progress is still unsatisfactory.
Good progress was made with regard to white women in
some categories, designated groups in top management
(50%), and black men in the junior lecturer category (less
than 20%). However, progress is still slow with regard to
black men and women in other categories. The UFS also
realises that it might be difficult to attain these targets in,
for instance, the senior academic ranks.