The Siyaphumelela 2.0 Project at the Durban University of Technology hosted a two-day KwaZulu-Natal Node Regional Meeting at Coastlands Musgrave Hotel in Durban on Monday, 11 April 2022 and Tuesday, 12 April 2022.
The team engaged with colleagues from the Walter Sisulu University (WSU), University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) on Holistic Student Support (HSS) implementation and practices.
Facilitating the discussions was DUT’s Dr Koo Parker, Institutional Researcher under the Siyaphumelela Project, Dr. Mzwandile Khumalo of the Student Support & Development unit (SSDU) within the Centre for Excellence in Learning & Teaching (CELT) and Ms. Nivedhna Singh, Siyaphumelela Project Coordinator.
In her welcome address, DUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Professor Nokuthula Sibiya revealed that this was a second meeting as the first meeting was held last year on 21 April 2021. She indicated that the purpose of the second meeting was to engage around the Holistic Student Support at the four institutions with the view in collaborating on a joint project. At DUT, she said they refer to the HSS focus area as Sikusekele-We’ve Got You, led by the DUT Dean of Students, Dr Clement Moreku.
Giving an overview of DUT’s Sikusekele Focus Area was Dr Moreku. He indicated that he was pleased to be part of the event where they were going to share ideas and learn from each other.
“Sikusekele is driven from the Student Services sector. It is important to highlight that Student Services serves a form of support and facilitation of the link between academic, psychosocial and student governance, plus an anchor of academic success and civic development of students. At DUT we believe in an enhanced student cycle through Holistic Student Support. Through DUT’s strategic direction with its four perspectives as enshrined in the ENVISION2030 namely; Stewardship, Systems and Processes, Sustainability and Society, we are geared towards creating collaborations and integration between all members of the DUT ecosystem,” said Dr Moreku.
He added that the core motives of the DUT perspectives are to ensure interconnectedness. He also unpacked the various projects and activities that Student Services are focusing on under the umbrella of Sikusekele.
The Siyaphumelela team consisting of Dr Parker, Dr Khumalo and Ms Singh made presentations encompassing the planning and coordination of the overall project, management support of HSS, participation of other support departments, funding and budget and also highlighted the training and workshops on HSS for staff and students, amongst other aspects pertaining to how HSS is implemented at the University.
The team from WSU, UKZN and MUT shared how they run their student support programmes and also taking note of DUT’s programmes. The morning concluded with a fruitful question and answer session, with the four institutions keen on building mutually beneficial partnerships.
The afternoon session was a panel discussion involving DUT students who are making a positive contribution in various initiatives including One Residence One Garden, Golden Key, Phakimpilo Food Security Programme, HIV/Aids Peer education and the Vuna Leadership Academy amongst others. This session themed Nothing for us, without us highlighted Student Agency where students are the agents of and for the changes they would like to see at the University and in our communities and society. Although students acknowledged with gratitude the various ways in which the University supported them, they also questioned certain policies such as not being permitted to sell products and services in the residences which they believed stunted entrepreneurship.
Pictured: Attendees at the KZN Node Regional Meeting.
Simangele Zuma
