Great progress is being made at our newly constituted, cross-campus faculties. In the past few months, the last of the executive deans were appointed and have taken office, followed by the appointment of deputy deans. The process of appointing the school directors is well under way.

 

In short, the unitary structure, in particular the faculties (which came into effect last July) now have the senior leaders to implement our strategy.

 

At an upcoming bosberaad of the Senior Management Committee, the deans will have the opportunity to demonstrate how their faculty plans are informed by and aligned with the NWU strategy. We look forward to this.

 

Meanwhile work at ground level continues as usual. Students and lecturers are preparing for the winter examinations, which we are sure will run smoothly and produce excellent results.

We are also looking to the future and therefore have conducted very successful open days on each of our three campuses. This is integral to our recruitment activities. My sincere thanks to all the staff and students who contributed their time and effort to these vital marketing and recruiting projects.

 

Two other projects deserve mention. The first is the Ubuntu Campaign, which will run from June until September 2018. It will entail a series of diversity dialogue sessions with the focus on creating institutional excellence through the development of high-performance teams open to innovation and creativity. The second is the ongoing dialogue about student life and the NWU identity and culture.

 

Both initiatives are aimed at taking our university forward as an institution striving for academic excellence by promoting greater social cohesion, inclusiveness and diversity within an ethic of care.

 

This is not a far-away dream on some piece of paper. We are actually busy making it happen!