Naledi Hlefane recently interviewed DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal about the year 2012, its hits and misses. She reports…

Naledi: How would you sum up the year 2012?

Prof Bawa: It has been a full year of academics. It provided students and staff to concentrate on quality learning and teaching. These are important goals for DUT. There were wonderful excellences in research and in teaching and learning. Progress was made with the Curriculum Renewal Project which has the potential to define the University’s future. Much progress was also made in the project of building the e-learning capacity of DUT. In terms of research, DUT was awarded its first ever South African Research Chair in the area of Wastewater Technology. We are deeply indebted to Professor Faizal Bux for putting together this chair. We also launched a new Scanning Electron Microscope which will add enormously to our capacity in experimental nanotechnology work.

Naledi: What were the University’s top priorities and challenges this year and did we overcome them?

Prof Bawa: Ensuring a full year of studies without disruptions was the major challenge. We achieved this with careful planning and cooperation from the SRC. We must pay compliment to the maturity, leadership and courage of the SRC. We made progress in many strategic areas. For instance, we embarked and made progress on a fascinating journey towards building a student-centred University.

Naledi: What was the University’s greatest achievement this year?

Prof Bawa: Consolidating our understanding of transformation at DUT was one of the most important steps taken this year. Five large projects constituting to this notion have been identified. These are curriculum renewal, building a research agenda, building a student-centred University, building our capacity to be a better service oriented University and building on our ability to meet the challenges of employment equity and student access. In respect of the last of these, we’ve received an infrastructure development grant of over R300 million from the Department of Higher Education and Training, the bulk of which will be directed towards the growth of student enrolments on our Pietermaritzburg campuses.

Naledi: What are your top priorities for the year 2013?

Prof Bawa: These are to remain as stable as we can, to keep the University financially viable and to forge ahead with strategic projects initiated.

Pictured: DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Ahmed Bawa.