Social Responsiveness
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SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN The Imizamo Yethu Water Platforms project aims to improve communal spaces for water collection, while providing teaching and learning opportunities for students. MAKING A LASTING, SUSTAINABLE IMPACT ON PEOPLE’S LIVES How can the University of Cape Town continue to Our faculties’ social responsiveness initiatives address make a lasting, sustainable impact in both higher the complex challenges facing our society while allowing education and wider society? This question informs academics to draw on their scholarship in community everything we do. It is why social responsiveness engagements. We believe that university engagement underlies the three pillars of UCT’s academic project: should be based on robust, evidence-based knowledge excellence, transformation and sustainability. By that lays a solid foundation for developing interventions encouraging a sense of social responsibility in our staff that deliver real, positive change in our society. and students, we aim to build a more just, equitable Drawing largely from the 2017/2018 Social and unified South Africa. Responsiveness Report, this publication does not provide Bringing the university into the community and a comprehensive account of UCT’s social responsiveness the community into the university is what we mean work, but we hope that it offers some insight into what when we talk about social responsiveness. Whether social responsiveness means to us and shines a light on we are engaging with policy development, focusing some of the work done by our many brilliant colleagues. on research activities, organising social outreach It is a reflection of the extraordinary levels of humanity, programmes, improving the relevance of our curricula excellence and commitment we realise at UCT, for which or providing opportunities for learning, our intention I am filled with gratitude and admiration. is to make an impact on individual lives that will last a lifetime, and an impact on society that will last for PROFESSOR MAMOKGETHI PHAKENG generations. Vice-Chancellor UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 1 A cleansing ceremony before UCT’s inaugural Khoekhoegowab language short course. INTRODUCTION The University of Cape Town is a globally competitive partnerships with local communities help to generate institution that remains conscious of its position in new knowledge and promote knowledge integration, South Africa and Africa, and it is this awareness of its complementing the academic project at our institution. context that drives the university towards developing The professional engagement of our PASS staff knowledge with social impact. in local communities and on campus allows them Our social responsiveness portfolio has become to apply their skills and meaningfully contribute to a key site for transformation, and we encourage improving the lives of others. our students, academic staff and professional, The social responsiveness of the entire university administrative support and service (PASS) staff to play community, based on solid disciplinary or professional an active development role in our cultural, economic, expertise, further roots the institution in the political, scientific and social environments. community, the country and the continent, positioning Whether through voluntary community service it at the forefront of social change. or as part of service learning, our students’ civic We still have a long way to go, but I am emboldened engagement provides them with opportunities to by the projects, progress and people featured in this grapple with real-life problems and issues, and their report, and together we can all be proud of what we experiences help to nurture a lifelong commitment to have achieved thus far. critical and active citizenship. Our academics practise engaged scholarship with an PROFESSOR LORETTA FERIS intentional public purpose or benefit in mind, and their Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Transformation UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 3 The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation’s Amajita Tutu Truck offered men in Philippi free HIV tests on International Men’s Day. SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS AT UCT More than making a lasting, sustainable impact on 116+ social Faculty social society, social responsiveness at UCT is about our responsiveness responsiveness initiatives strategic commitment to engaged scholarship, initiatives in eight Centre for Higher Education including interactions with stakeholders and partners major areas Development (CHED) 3 both within and beyond the institution. It is inextricably Development (25%) Commerce (including Graduate linked to core UCT activities, underlining our main Education (22%) School of Business) 27 focus areas of research and internationalisation Employment (6%) Engineering and the Built (overseen by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Sue Environment (6%) Environment 13 Harrison), teaching and learning (directed by Deputy Gender (2%) Health Sciences 17 Vice-Chancellor Associate Professor Lis Lange), Health (11%) Humanities 22 and transformation (led by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Inequality (14%) Law 12 Professor Loretta Feris). Poverty (14%) Science 22 100+ EXTERNAL PARTNERS Community-based organisations 22 Industry 16 NGOs 27 Public sector 36 2003 2006 2009 2010 2014 2015 2016 UCT produces The definition The Social The Knowledge The biennial The Engaged More than the first Social of social Responsiveness Co-op is Social Scholarship 20 academics Responsiveness responsiveness Award is founded. Responsiveness Programme is participate in Report. is endorsed, established. Report launched in the the Engaged stipulating that 2012 recognises the Research Office. Scholarship it must have UCT adopts contributions of Programme. an intentional the engaged students as well purpose or scholarship as academics. MILESTONES benefit. policy. 4 SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS WE ARE DEDICATED TO BUILDING, DEVELOPING AND FOSTERING AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE EVERYONE FEELS INCLUDED AND CHANGE IS RESPECTED, ENCOURAGED AND CELEBRATED. 11 INSTITUTION-WIDE PROGRAMMES The African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI) The Office for Inclusivity & Change (OIC) provides supports collaborative research and training institutional responses to transformation, sexual and in climate change and development. gender-based violence, disability and cultural change. The Engaged Scholarship Programme comprises The Poverty and Inequality Initiative (PII) a multidisciplinary group committed to enhancing promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration to address the societal impact of academia through community challenges posed by poverty and inequality in engagement. South Africa. The Global Citizenship Programme is an initiative The Safety and Violence Initiative (SaVI) facilitates that engages students as thoughtful scholars and debate, research and interventions to respond to citizens to respond to key contemporary issues. violence and promote safety in South Africa. The Futures Think Tank tackles the question: “How should The Schools Improvement Initiative (SII) responds UCT (and the way we do our work) change to shape, lead to the education crisis in South Africa, which poses and make the future in a rapidly changing world?” serious challenges for tertiary education. Future Water is a transdisciplinary research association Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation that addresses issues of South African water scarcity, (SHAWCO) enrols student volunteers in health, largely through water-sensitive design. education and social entrepreneurship initiatives in The Knowledge Co-op makes it easier for community under-serviced communities. partners to access the university’s skills, resources and professional expertise. UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN 5 100 grade 12 learners from Khayelitsha schools enjoy a foretaste of university life at UCT’s Summer School. SUSTAINABLE IMPACT THROUGH TRANSFORMATION Our vision for transformation centres on the conviction that becoming the best university in the world depends on embracing diversity and inclusivity. Rather than simply focusing on demographics, we address the need for cultural change on our campuses in order to become a community in which everyone – regardless of background, customs, sexual orientation and mother tongue – feels at home and can achieve their full potential. 6 SOCIAL RESPONSIVENESS This transformational approach is grounded in six key areas: • students and staff access, support and success • place and space • institutional responses to discrimination and harassment • owning our African identity • curriculum support (including the development of inclusive classrooms) • social responsiveness, by way of community engagement and partnership. As we enable access from across society, we also strive to provide opportunities for students and staff to participate fully in the communities that surround us and to sustain a tangible impact on our province, country and world. The following are just a few examples of social responsiveness initiatives that further transformation: • The UCT 100UP programme prepares grade 10, 11 and 12 learners from township schools for higher education. • The Office for Inclusivity & Change’s course on South African Sign Language improves communication with deaf students and staff. • A School of Economics project looks for ways of honing the targeting of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) test system for improved inclusivity. • The Values-Based Approach to Funding Higher Education project looks at alternative funding options to advance inclusivity. • Designed to open up the world