The visit to the USA is part of MUT’s broader strategic mission to position itself as a hub for global research and innovation, rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu: “I am because we are.” This philosophy is embedded in the works of Nelson Mandela and Dr Martin Luther King Jr. As Professor Nokuthula Sibiya, MUT’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal, articulated at both universities, “This is more than just an institutional visit; it is a generational pact to forge a future where education transcends politics, inequality and geography.”
Building on the internationalisation leadership established by former Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Marcus Ramogale, Professor Sibiya is raising MUT’s international pre-eminence and redefining the landscape of African higher education as inclusive, collaborative and unapologetically excellent. It is no mean feat that Professor Sibiya provided a keynote address to university leadership at a summit hosted by Southern University at New Orleans and attended by the executive from Dillard University, Xavier University, Delgado Community College, Loyola University New Orleans, Southern University Baton Rouge, and Southern University Shreveport at the Southern University at New Orleans, USA.
The MUT Vice-Chancellor emphasised, “We must not forget that US campuses were in the vanguard of disinvestment from South Africa, urging corporations and governments to withdraw their economic support for the apartheid regime. Student activists in the US mobilised their institutions to divest from companies that operated in South Africa. Staff members and students alike pressed their boards of trustees to act on this critical issue”. The outcomes of the visit will now be operationalised and embedded into the new MUT Strategy.