The Faculty of Management Sciences at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) hosted an online orientation to welcome the 44 staff members from Takoradi Technical University (TTU) in Ghana aiming to obtain their PhD’s from DUT.

The webinar which was part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between DUT and TTU was held on Microsoft Teams on Saturday, 19 September 2020.

Facilitating the orientation was Dr Emem Anwana, Faculty Research Co-ordinator at DUT, who welcomed the Executive Management of both DUT and TUT, the Vice-Chancellor of TTU Rev Professor John Frank Eshun, DUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Engagement Prof Sibusiso Moyo and two Executive Deans from DUT, Prof Fulu Netswera and Prof Oludayo Olugbara, Head of Departments, Professors and academics.

Dr Anwana acknowledged Prof Moyo and Dr Albert Agbenyegar, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Applied Management stating they are the brain behind the MoU between DUT and TUT coming into fusion.

“Thank you, Prof Moyo, for your leadership, for your guidance and for being so instrumental to ensuring that this engagement would take place between DUT and TTU. Dr Agbenyegah is the liaison between the two institutions. Without your commitment and your leadership, this would not have taken place. We specially thank you for that. We also want to thank Prof Fulu Netswera, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, who worked tirelessly with us to ensure the success of this programme. I also want to thank our Deputy Dean, Dr Melanie Lourens, she is the IT guru in our faculty. She ensures that we are able to do anything we needed to do using technology, she is always available to help,” said Dr Anwana.

She said the partnership between the two universities arose out of an MoU that was signed on 21 February 2020, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, leading to all the borders and universities to close.

However, Dr Anwana said around May 2020, they started using technology again which assisted in making the online orientation possible.

“ I am pleased to inform you that we have accepted into our faculty a postgraduate programme, 43 PhD candidates from TTU, 1 Masters. We have also engaged 31 co-supervisors under the collaboration aspects of the MoU. There are many areas of engagement, innovation and research that we will be engaging with TTU. This is just the beginning and we want to say thank you very much for making this a possibility,” said Dr Anwana.

Prof Moyo said this is a historical moment as Ghana is a strategic partner since it was one of the first countries in Africa to be independent.

Furthermore, she stated that the partnership is very instrumental because it showcases South Africa and Ghana working together, through DUT and TTU to try and advance education.

She (Prof Moyo) added that often people look at collaborations with Europe, and have a small footprint in the continent.

In his opening remarks, Prof Netswera said as Prof Moyo indicated this is one of its kind and they want it to be a flagship.

He said he hopes they will be able to show other South African universities what it means to do African cooperation.

“There is a lot of talk about collaborating in Africa but there is little evidence of that happening. Our cooperation in our universities are mainly with European universities and America. Within the continent it is difficult to find universities that are collaborating at the level we are doing. This is an extremely important initiative and I hope we will be able to replicate this in other countries,” said Prof Netswera.

He further stated that this collaboration implements DUT’s Envision 2030 which talks about an engaged university and adaptive graduates. By 2030, Prof Netswera said DUT intends to have 70% of staff members with PhD’s.

TTU’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Eshun said this international programme and exchange of students will yield positive results.

He said TTU is receiving more global recognition because of the collective efforts of all staff.

When advising the beneficiaries of this programme, Prof Eshun said that they should use this opportunity wisely to equip themselves with skills and knowledge. He congratulated them for their admission at DUT and wished them success in their studies and research work.

Pictured Distinguished guests who were part of the DUT and TTU orientation webinar.

Simangele Zuma