Noting that it takes two to tangle, the next phase of the meetings was organised with eThekwini Municipality and facilitated by the Municipal Institute of Learning (MILE), an initiative of the eThekwini Municipality. The approach for a meeting with MILE was triggered by the fact that when MUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Nokuthula Sibiya led a delegation to Sac State, it emerged during meetings that MUT’s success story lies in support from their city, and the fact that globally, local government plays a critical role in universities within their cities. The Mayor, Honourable Cyril Xaba provided key areas as to why they would partner with MUT to make the partnership with Sac State a success, “Together with Sac State, and MUT, the municipality would like to pioneer the creation of an Innovation and Technology Corridor, a regional ecosystem modelled on Silicon Valley’s collaborative culture between academia, government, and industry.” He also added that “through collaboration with Sac State’s Carlsen Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Durban could establish state-of-the-art incubation centres designed to nurture local talent and scalable start-ups. I would also like to see how university qualifications with real-world urban challenges at Sac State, so that we could challenge our universities to match the qualifications needed by the country’s various sectors.” Sacramento State University, Dean, College of Business, Dr Jean-Francois Coget, confirmed that they would like to work with the city in these areas.
There were three roundtable discussions that focused on how these commitments would be moved on both institutions’ agendas to ensure that the MoU is implemented accordingly.
The Vice-Chancellor was represented by Dr Xolile Ngubane, who got the accolade ‘acting VC’ from the City’s team, where protocol is precision. The MarComms team was responsible for facilitating discussions and recording the event.