Peter Kalanga has been with the Durban University of Technology (DUT) for the past 10 years aspires to provide students with excellent academic support.
“One of my aspirations is to be an entrepreneur but with all the knowledge and experience I have gained whilst being a student and staff at the DUT, I have developed a passion for academic support. My vision is to not only help students within the institution, but to also establish community engagement projects in my village,” said Kalanga.
He went on to explain that he wishes to see DUT projects extend its services, such as providing academic support to high schools, advancing library resources, and assisting learners by preparing them for University.
DUT’s Kalanga is the Teaching and Learning Development Practitioner, coordinating student support and development programmes at the DUT Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) at the Midlands Campus. He has a Bachelor of Technology (BTech) Degree in Tourism Management, Diploma in Ecotourism, and is currently in the process of completing his Masters of Management Sciences in Business Administration.
“My current research interest is customer service quality, I am more interested in discovering the perceptions of customers and finding customer satisfaction strategies in order to assist an organisation to improve their services and gain advantage in the market,” said Kalanga.
Kalanga also wants to provide his academic writing skills to everyone that may need assistance. He went on to say that it is his goal to set a good example to students academically, which is why as soon as he completes his Master’s qualification his plan for the year is to enrol for his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
“Within the institution, I am motivated by the Midlands Campus Director, Dr Joe Molete, his love and pure support to staff is incredible and he shows a good perception for life in general and corporate world vision,” stated Kalanga.
“I am also inspired by our former CELT Acting Director: Professor Livingstone Makondo, for his unshaken integrity and professional work ethics as a coordinator and line manager to Tutor Mentor Advisors (TMAs). I have learnt a lot from him, about managing staff and supporting their different struggles for optimum performance,” he added.
When describing the biggest highlight of his life, Kalanga stated that he is a go-getter with a life that has always been filled with perseverance. He believes that his main purpose in life is to acquire more resources to change his family background and help people around him. He went on to say that given a chance to do things differently, he would create a fair world that has equal opportunities for everyone to survive because life is not easy for most, and it really saddens him to see people struggling to survive.
Kalanga concluded by encouraging the youth of South Africa to not be discouraged by the high rate of unemployment but to learn new skills and be entrepreneurs, do research, be willing to learn from those who have knowledge, stay positive, and spend days investing on things that will add value to their future.
Pictured: DUT’s Peter Kalanga
Zanele Mashaba
