Page 16 - DUT Annual Report 2024

Another priority is reducing our high student-to-staff ratio, which currently stands at 37:1. In 2020 we committed to bringing this down to 25:1, thus enhancing the quality of teaching, learning, research and innovation. We want our students to thrive in an environment conducive to successful learning, for which there must be more academics and better-manageable lectures and venues.
The purpose of our support services restructure is to reallocate resources more efficiently and effectively. With implementation of a new ERP system, among others, funds previously spent on non-core functions will be redirected to improve the student-to-staff ratio and elevate the quality of our academic work. Among others, this resulted in the University allocating no less than R20m from its resources towards our home-grown Grow-Our- Own-Timber (GOOT) over and above the DHET-funded development and capacity building programmes.
Sustainability
ENVISION2030 has three SOs under this Perspective, namely Distinctive Education, Financial Sustainability and Green Ecosystems. Together they address the triple-E of Economy, Equity and Environment.
‘Distinctive education’ is an integral part of a set of SOs that form an education-focused thread running through our entire set of Perspectives. Within this thread are the following: ‘creativity’, ‘innovative curricula and research’, ‘distinctive education’ and ‘adaptive graduates’. In addition to the education-focused set of SOs, this SO is, therefore, about several complementary features that make the education we offer holistic and compelling. These features include ‘state-of-the-art infrastructure’, for example, ensuring that our students have state-of- the-art accommodation through some initiatives we introduced, as one way of making their learning and living environment compelling and future oriented. Some of the elements I refer to above regarding institutional reviews in pursuit of excellence, the ongoing investment in infrastructure development and maintenance, and our aggressive support for a suite of co-curricular activities all contribute towards the realisation of the distinctiveness of DUT’s education.
Our participation in the annual Achieve the Dream Conference in the United States of America as a member of the Siyaphumelela network since 2016 has helped us to make steady progress in implementing data-driven initiatives. In living up to our motto of being Creative. Distinctive. Impactful. we continued to explore several initiatives which will scale up research-informed practices, and leveraging big data to enhance student success and
eventual employability through collaborative partnerships. Last year’s conference prompted reflections on the role of the curriculum in facilitating or hindering student success, advocating for a programmatic approach to curriculum enhancement, which is what ‘Transformed Academia’ talks to. Our application for funding for Siyaphumelela 3.0 built on our lived successes, while we also address gaps and identify new opportunities, particularly in the context of various injunctions of ENVISION2030.
The University uses two key planning initiatives which help us to manage our finances more prudently. For the first time in 2024 we considered and approved the Extended Annual Performance Plan (EAPPn+1) for the following year n+1 in June of year n. This is to ensure that our EAPPn+1 informs the budget for year n+1, which Council approves in September of each year n. In addition, we also introduced a multi-year planning and budgeting system, which our Finance Committee mooted in 2022. This approach is forward-looking not only in terms of plans, but also in how we resource those plans, projects and programmes.
At its 17 April 2024 meeting the EMC approved the Finance Function Value Proposition (FFVP), which was developed to improve financial services in the University and ensure maturity thereof. The same was subsequently approved by Council at its November meeting. One of the key drivers in the finance function improvement plan is business partnering. The appointment of finance business partners will assist in improving the budgeting process and unlocking spending so that it is in line with the budget. The 2024 expenditure was largely impacted negatively by implementation of the ERP. As the University community starts familiarising themselves with and using the system, we are starting to see improvements.
The Energy Management Framework was developed and approved, which has paved the way for initiation of the energy master plan during 2024. Commencement of a pilot project was identified at Riverside campus in partnership with the PDEU (a university in India that is fully solar-powered), following on DUT’s visit there in July 2023. In addition, we also launched the reverse vending machine to support our recycling efforts
Society
The development of ENVISION2030 was rooted in full consciousness of grave societal problems our country faces; DUT must make a contribution to the resolution of these as part of the higher education ecosystem. In the realm of public policy, these goals and aspirations that seek “to contribute towards improving the lives and livelihoods” of society are best articulated in South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP), African Agenda 2063,
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DUT ANNUAL REPORT 2024