Page 43 - UNAM Annual Report 2017

facilitated the University statutory property • The policy needed to specify and define
registration processes, resulting in the registration
of Neudamm Campus.
In 2017, the Space Management Policy, which
governs the assignment, reassignment and
alteration of all UNAM space, and promotes
effective and efficient use of the space, was
also approved.
Student Affairs
The Office of the Dean of Students (ODS) is
the biggest department of the University, and
houses all structured non-academic student
support programmes and services. These
programmes are designed primarily to ease and
guide students’ transition from high school life,
where parents and teachers mete out discipline
and control measures, into university life, where
self-discipline and self-reliance are urgently
needed to balance seemingly endless individual
freedom, and to serve as internal balance setter
for the demands and pressures of academic life.
For the year under review, the ODS, as a
custodian of student matters, developed several
policies meant to improve student life. The ODS
professional services department, which houses
a career counselling service, hosted an annual
career fair, which was aimed at marketing UNAM’s
various academic programmes to Grade 12
learners. This event connects would-be employers
with UNAM final-year students, so that students
could explore possible career opportunities and
experience onsite job interviews during the fair.
University Central Consultancy Bureau
For the year under review, the review of the
UNAM Consultancy Policy was approved. The
aim of this decision was to address the following
gaps/shortcomings:
• The internal auditors found that the policy
was older than 10 years and recommended
its revision;
• The policy had clauses relating to intellectual
property, and with the introduction of a
policy in this regard, there was a need to
rescind such clauses;
certain terms, such as Schools, APVCs,
consultancies, associates, etc., to provide
more clarity and meaning;
• The policy needed to emphasise the need
to register all contract consultancies through
UCCB;
• The directorate noted that academics were
too demoralised to conduct consultancy on
behalf of UNAM. An amendment was made
to reduce the basic institutional fees from
40% to 30%, to increase participation; and
• The policy introduced threshold professional
fee rates in order to encourage consistency
in fee payments.
In addition to the above, and in view of the
austerity measures introduced by government,
the UCCB initiated and succeeded in signing
MoUs with the following entities (refer to UCCB
Integrated Report 2017):
• NIPAM;
• NTA; and
• SSC (still under negotiation).
The UCCB built up significant momentum during
the year 2017, by working on its growth strategies
and forging links with the public and private
sectors through the design of short programmes
and conducting actionable contract research
that responds to national goals, in order to aid in
nation building and development.
UCCB was affected by a number macro
and micro-environmental factors. The
implementation of annual plans was hindered
by negative national and global economic
conditions. Key attributes that impacted
operations are the introduction of government
austerity measures, the introduction of the Public
Procurement Act and the continued reduction
in Southern African Customs Union receipts.
However, despite these harsh economic
conditions, the UCCB demonstrated resilience
by acquiring a number of projects that yielded
a nett profit of N$2 581 855.
4040