VUT_Report 2018_Finale

VAAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
ANNUAL REPORT 2018
The report of the Vice-Chancellor and Principal for the 2018 Annual Reporting period
is developed in terms of the requirements as set out in the Regulations for Reporting
by Public Higher Education Institutions, as published in Government Notice No. 10209,
Government Gazette No 37726 of 9 June 2014 effective as from 2015. In line with these
requirements, this report focuses on the management and administration of the Vaal
University of Technology for the 2018 academic year.
The Management of the Vaal University of Technology has set four strategic goals and
six strategic success factors as the thrust of the 2018 Annual Performance Plan. These
priorities were further expressed in the Institutional Implementation Plan (IIP2018) for
purposes of cascading these across the University as well as for effective management
and monitoring.
The complete 2018 audited report on the overall institutional performance against the
University’s Annual Performance Plans is incorporated in the report.
Institutional Management And Leadership
In 2018, notwithstanding the complex challenges facing the system, the University has
been undergoing changes at the various levels of the organisation. This follows the
commencement of the strategic review process initiated in 2018. As a sequel to this
process, we held several internal dialogues interrogating some of the assumptions
that have carried the 2015 - 2019 University strategy. This exercise afforded us the
opportunity to critically reflect on the position of the University in relation to the
changes and the new challenges facing the Higher Education Sector in general.
The uncertainty of the governance challenges facing the Institution, have only emphasized
and heightened the importance of risk management both at the institutional as well
as at the systems level. In view of the complexities as well as the new challenges
experienced by the system, Universities as “going – concern public entities”, are increasingly
required to carve and craft new sustainable approaches for the continuity of the academic
project. At VUT, we still hold the long-held commitment that public higher education
must at all times be for the good of all. This long-held belief which is engraved in our
Institutional values and organisational culture, remains the undergirding and overriding
value that continues to shape our internal discourse. Having said the above, we can state
that, as a public university, we understand the challenges that face many of our students
who are mostly drawn from poor families across the country. At VUT, we try our best
to see them through the system. It is always fulfilling when we meet with their parents
to celebrate their successes and achievements. Despite the difficulties and challenges
throughout their academic life at the University, it is that moment that gives meaning
and purpose to the many difficult decisions we make in the interest of education.
Through our strategy review process which was facilitated by a Company Learning
Strategy, we are beginning to conceptualize responses to the new challenges at
institutional systems and systemic level. Given the sensitive nature of some of these
challenges, universities would have to be agile and flexible in finding sustainable
solutions to the challenges which are responding to the complexities of the system as
well as appreciative of the perennial student demands we are faced with.
Given the context, management and administration of public higher education
institutions have become a delicate exercise of managing as well as protecting the
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