DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ahmed Bawa, was recently invited to the United States of America to make a presentation on his ideas and thoughts about the role of universities in building social justice and more equal societies.

Prof Bawa made his presentation at the Anchor Institutions Task Force Annual Conference (AITF) held at the University of Chicago, USA, following an invitation by the Anchor Institutions Task Force, a group comprising of university leaders, community based organisations, health institutions, communities, foundations and non-governmental organisations.

The Durban University of Technology has been invited to join the group which comprises of 400 entities. These so-called Anchor Institutions are committed to working towards the construction of more equal societies using strong social justice agendas.

In his talk, Prof Bawa focused on how institutions, such as DUT, that work with students from diverse backgrounds, drawing many (students) from the lower classes as well as rural and peri-urban backgrounds, have a social justice agenda built into their core functions. He also reflected on the way that DUT does this through the establishment of research groups, units, centres and institutes that focus on developmental issues such as food security, water research, energy research as well as maternal and child care.

This was also an occasion to reflect on the kinds of engagement that DUT is involved in, whether it is with industry, communities, government or the NGO sector. Prof Bawa’s main point was that at DUT, engagement is interwoven with the production of new knowledge and the development of opportunities for students to engage with knowledge at the nexus of theory and praxis.

A discussion about DUT’s new strategic plan, with Student-Centredness and Engagement being the two threads in its DNA, was warmly received and generated much interest at the presentation.

-The Division of Corporate Affairs

Pictured: DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ahmed Bawa (left), with Professor Heather Campbell from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield, England, speak to attendees at the Anchor Institutions Task Force (AITF) Annual Conference. The AITF was developed to help anchor institution and community partners develop stronger relationships and help solve urban issues like higher education and health care.

Photo by Shaun Sartin