Page 69 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

are a positive step to ensure that UNIZULU students get exposed to community initiatives and industries relevant to their degrees in a controlled and guided manner. This helps in creating an opportunity for their employability.
Sustainable Goal 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
UNIZULU has made considerable progress in infrastructure development and planning. The new Spatial Development Framework was approved in 2019 and allows for optimisation of the landscape in which the Institution is
situated. The new infrastructure build will also contribute considerably towards the Richards Bay development. The new infrastructure will not only address teaching and learning spaces, but also residence spaces. As evidenced in the Report of Chairperson of Council and Performance Assessment Report, infrastructure has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 in 2020. As a result of COVID-19, most of the infrastructure plans experienced delays as the efforts shifted to supporting the implementation of essential services measures that required uninterrupted services such as water, energy and sanitation.The Institution initiated an exercise to consider space modifications to de-densify existing student accommodation and lecture halls and the reconfiguration of common areas in line with COVID-19 spatial planning principles. A Master Project List was approved in April 2020 in preparation for the IIMP. The master project list is confirmation of ready-to-implement projects that are funded, allowing for the development of implementation packages.
Sustainable Goal 10 – Reduced Inequalities
Academically, the University also faces the need to address the academically under-preparedness of school- leavers. Many school-leavers’ previous experiences of learning may not stand them in good stead within the University
context. To address this, the University has vibrant foundation programmes that are offered in the faculties of Science and Agriculture and Commerce, Administration and Law. The University benefits from the Foundation Grant as provided for by DHET. The University has also developed a core module called UNIZULU 101, which has been fully implemented across all four faculties in 2020.
The Faculty of Education runs a community engagement flagship project. Working with 10 local rural high schools, the programme provides tuition in eight subjects to Grade 12 learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. Various academics visit schools on weekends and holidays to support about 550 learners to ensure that they can access higher education. Career guidance is provided to these learners and they are also assisted to apply for admission to HEIs. Noting the challenges faced by the SA school system, UNIZULU has further prioritised community outreach by running the UNIZULU Science Centre for over 34 years. These multiple award-winning projects have assisted more than half a million pupils and their teachers in over 800 schools in the three educational districts surrounding the University. Most of these schools are in deeply rural areas and are severely under-resourced.
The tuition and residence fees of the University are very low when compared to other South African universities. An intervention is urgently needed to ensure that tuition and residence fees are corrected to a level that increases the financial sustainability of the University as well as its ability to maintain and improve its facilities and services. With the implementation of free education in South Africa, UNIZULU students will suffer significant hardship and inequality unless this issue is addressed.
The importance of technology to the local and national economies continues to be a challenging aspect of provision for UNIZULU. Most UNIZULU students still do not have ready access to technology and are consequently ill-prepared for its uses in learning contexts. At the same time, the University wishes to leverage current IT trends to support student success and employability. Sustainability within the South African context cannot be separated from transformation. What has become clear after more than 20 years of democracy is that transformation means very different things in different contexts. The University started the process in 2015 of defining what transformation means for UNIZULU and all of its stakeholders. The Integrated Transformation Plan identified transformation initiatives such as the development of an Employment Equity (EE) Plan, development of an Attraction and Retention Strategy, staff engagement at all levels, student leadership development, performance measurement, student throughput, a Service Delivery Improvement Plan and disability. A five-year Employment Equity Plan was submitted to the internally- established Transformation Committee for deliberations and monitoring. Using the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Economically Active Population demographics, numerical goals and targets were determined.
9 INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
10 REDUCED INEQUALITIES
67
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020