opening of new academic buildings at the Vaal Triangle campus of North West
University
12 April 2007
Vice-Chancellor, Dr Theuns Eloff
Campus Rector, Prof PJJ Prinsloo
Members of institutional and campus management
Staff and students of the university
Distinguished guests
It is with great pleasure that I join you this morning to open new academic
buildings � new parts of the library, new laboratories and new lecture theatres
on this campus of the North West University. This opening ceremony marks an
important step towards the consolidation of the merger and incorporation
processes that began in earnest at the beginning of 2003. Our point of
departure for the transformation of higher education is that it should play a
central role in the social, cultural and economic development of society.
The 2001 National Plan for Higher Education, provides the implementation
framework for the five major transformation goals of the system: access,
equity, diversity, building high-level research capacity, and establishing new
institutional and organisational forms. The promotion of greater diversity in
the system is being driven through institutional and national planning
processes. Not unexpectedly some stakeholders viewed and continue to view these
steps towards the more efficient and effective use of limited resources as
being over-regulatory.
Yet the planning process has also played an important part in identifying
areas of strength within respective institutions as well as ones that required
particular attention by institutions and my department. The main merger
rationale was simply put, that the previous institutional structure of higher
education was not sustainable and was unable to respond and contribute to our
development agenda.
Today the number of higher education institutions has been reduced from 36
to 22, with no loss of overall institutional capacity and student places. The
merger and incorporation processes are intended to give rise to new, stronger
and more sustainable institutions that will be truly representative of our
society. We are not naive about the complexity of the undertaking and do not
see mergers as the solution to all the ills in the system.
However, we believe that the institutional restructuring will lead to a more
rational landscape for pursuit of excellence and equity. The problem as
government saw it was that the system as a whole was under-performing with
institutions producing far fewer graduates than they should, given their
enrolment levels. Student failure and dropout rates were also unacceptably high
in most of the institutions. It was against this background, that government
decided to establish the North West University as a unitary but multi-campus
institution, which would offer a comprehensive array of programmes.
Our hope is that the merger will contribute to meeting South Africa's human
resource needs and those of the region. The existing programme strengths of the
two merging contact institutions are complementary, creating an opportunity for
developing a well-balanced programme profile. The merger and incorporation is
expected to integrate students and staff from different background and to
create a new organisational identity. Students and staff of the university,
irrespective of location, should benefit by having access to the facilities and
resources that the new institution will offer.
Despite some initial opposition, the merger has been embraced and this is
evidence of the commitment and dedication of the university community to
looking bravely towards a new future. In this regard, I want to acknowledge the
role and leadership of the many men and women of goodwill in ensuring a smooth
transition to the merger. Today, the North West University has the opportunity
to contribute to the rejuvenation of our country and together with the rest of
the sector to contribute to the development of South Africa and the Southern
African region.
The key challenge that confronts the new institution in the higher education
landscape in South Africa is how to widen access, expand opportunity and
enhance capacity. This is especially important given the impact of
digitalisation, outsourcing and offshoring on knowledge production and the
world of work. The challenge of defining the role and function of the North
West University cannot be pursued in isolation from the broader challenges of
transformation. There are four aspects that I would like to highlight:
First, there is the challenge of equity. We need vigorously to address the
legacy of racial and gender inequalities that continue to persist. This is
especially so in the case of the staff composition of the higher education
system. It goes without saying that the challenge of equity cannot be pursued
at the expense of quality. Indeed, the poor throughput and graduation rate
suggests that quality is the key aspect by which to measure the success of
equity, if the "revolving door" syndrome is to become a relic of the past.
Second, there is the challenge of efficiency and effectiveness, and the need
to ensure that scarce resources are not wasted. Universities have a special
role to play in development but that role runs right through the education
system from schools to the tertiary institutions. I support differentiation and
the promotion of growth in selected areas.
Third, there is the challenge of creating new institutional cultures that
incorporate our social, cultural, and ethnic differences. We must create
institutions in which all our people feel welcome and valued as members of the
university community. We must mine the rich seams of diversity in our people
but diversity must not become an excuse for social exclusion and social
injustice. In this regard, it is especially important for the North West
University to approach the issue of language, in particular, the language of
communication with scrupulous attention to inclusion. We need to promote and
strengthen the academic study of indigenous languages. This objective needs to
be supported by the promotion of the study of the indigenous languages in
schools.
The fourth and final challenge is that of quality of graduates. The quality
of graduates from this institution will shape the level and quality of
contributions the institution shall make towards the development of the
province. This provides, in my view, an exciting opportunity for the university
to enter into a partnership with the North West province to facilitate the
wide-ranging renewal and revitalisation of the province. It requires both
enhancing the skills base of the province, as well as developing its knowledge
base through research.
Finally, transformation at North West University should not just be about
changing staff or student profiles. It must be seen as a process of long-term
change involving all aspects of university life. I believe that North West
University has taken the first few steps towards this ideal.
Issued by: Department of Education
12 April 2007
