CUT Annual Report 2008
The Annual Report is a premier publication that reports on institutional development and successes.
The Annual Report is a premier publication that reports on institutional development and successes.
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In the area of strategic partnerships, one of the major<br />
projects we pursued in <strong>2008</strong> involved securing the<br />
requisite support from the Department of Science and<br />
Technology (DST), the Free State Provincial Government<br />
and various partners in business/industry for the<br />
establishment of a Regional Innovation will help to drive<br />
the province’s innovation strategy and will become an<br />
interface between the academe and technology transfer<br />
on the one hand, and industrial and socio-economic<br />
development on the other. We are on course to get this<br />
centre off the ground in 2009.<br />
As was the case in 2007, the most challenging of all<br />
the tasks was that of cascading institutional restructuring<br />
down to middle management level, after the example set<br />
by the executive management restructuring process.<br />
The sheer volume of the positions and functions involved<br />
and the potential loss of productivity and skills due to<br />
attendant uncertainties made this task substantial and<br />
complex. Disagreements and legal challenges did not<br />
allow us to start this process during the fourth quarter<br />
of the year, as had been planned. All of the above<br />
notwithstanding, we plan to realise a saving of about<br />
14% of the support services salary bill when the new<br />
positions come into effect in 2009. Again, this will give<br />
us more room to reinvest these savings in the academe<br />
and other strategic priorities.<br />
The academic infrastructure project<br />
funded by the Department of Education,<br />
worth about R180 million (including <strong>CUT</strong>’s<br />
own contribution), started in earnest with<br />
the appointment of a project management<br />
com pany to manage the various sub-projects,<br />
along with various professional teams to design<br />
and cost the new developments. Given the<br />
university’s size, this is a substantial injection not<br />
only to our balance sheet but also to the state-ofthe-art<br />
facilities we boast.<br />
We should see the year 2009 as one in which<br />
we will focus on putting the most competent and<br />
innovative people in the new positions in support<br />
services, teaching and research. Our people, our<br />
new infrastructure and our facilities therefore give me<br />
confidence that <strong>CUT</strong> is on course to greater things.<br />
1 October 2009<br />
Professor TZ Mthembu<br />
Vice-Chancellor and Principal<br />
[FOTO VAN PROF. TZ MTHEMBU]<br />
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