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Mangosuthu University of Technology Annual Report

16

TENDER APPEALS TRIBUNAL RULES:

The Tender Appeals rules are part of the SCM policy.

Council had delegated the responsibility to EXCO to

finalize the Tender Appeals Tribunal rules. EXCO had

approved the rules and they were being received by

Council for ratification. The meeting considered and

ratified the Tender Appeals Tribunal rules.

REPORT ON POLICIES STATUS

Councilreceivedareportonthestatusofpolicydevelopment

with the view to strengthening compliance at MUT. The

report also sought to hold each executive accountable in

ensuring that policies are presented to Council timeously.

Council resolved that all policies approved by Council

should be signed by the Chairperson of Council.

3.6 Academic Matters

ACADEMIC CHALLENGES AT MUT

Council considered the current academic challenges at

MUT.

MUT’s historical disadvantages within the SA Higher

Education Landscape (HEMIS Data):

a)

Unequal and/or unfavourable staff: student ratios

–MUT has the most unfavourable ratio among the

contact teaching universities in South Africa.

b)

Qualification and expertise of existing staff –

MUT has the lowest number of staff with doctoral

degrees.

c)

The Postgraduate enrolment in 2015 was 31.

d)

Total number of research outputs in 2015 was 14.73

units.

The following achievements show that in spite of the

above challenges, the University has been doing well.

MUT’S RECENT ACADEMIC SUCCESSES IN 2015

The Council considered and applauded MUT for the

following academic achievements:

a)

Four new qualifications were registered. MUT is

the first UoT to offer the following programmes in

the country: the Post Graduate Diploma in Nature

Conservation, the Advanced Diploma in Marketing,

the Advanced Diploma in Human Resource

Management and the BSc in Environmental Health.

b)

A letter of confirmation to offer the Master of Nature

Conservation was received. This would be the first

Master’s degree to be offered by MUT.

c)

ECP Programmes: The DHET has approved the

offering of the ECP programme in Biomedical

Sciences, Public Financial and Accounting, Building

and Surveying.

d)

The Teaching and Learning Colloquium was held on

07 May 2015.

e)

The Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Awards

held on 08 May 2015 to recognize academic staff

that have done well in their teaching activities.

f)

MUT has the lowest dropout rate in the entire

higher education sector.

g)

MUT had an average success rate of 83% which is

the highest among UoT’s.

h)

Mr Njabulo Gumede from the Faculty of Natural

Sciences was awarded a National Excellence in

Teaching and Learning Award by CHE. He is the

second staff member to receive the national award.

nGAP POSITIONS FOR COUNCIL APPROVAL

Council considered the nGAP project of the DHET

designed to assist in the development of the next

generation of academics by attracting young people into

academia. Council noted that the DHET had made funding

available for MUT for four posts to be created. Council

expressed appreciation for the nGAP programme, but felt

that the University needed to look at the pros and cons of

its impact financially and otherwise. After deliberations

Council approved in principled the creation of the

positions, subject to certain conditions, one of which was

that full details of the financial and other implications

(structural), that will arise as a result of the creation of the

new positions is provided. Subsequently, Council received

and considered how the funding of the four lecturing

positions would be provided when the DHET gradually

reduces its funding of the positions from the fourth year

onwards.

3.7 Operational Information

VICE-CHANCELLOR’S REPORT

Council considered the Vice-Chancellor’s Report and

recommended that rather than using input indicators,

the report should use output indicators. Improvement

is needed in the way the report is crafted, e.g. key

performance indicators need to be shown in the office of

the VC and Executive Director: OVC. Council suggested

that since some targets are quarterly; all targets should be

measured on a quarterly basis.

Council members were requested to interrogate the

report further and thereafter forward their comments for

improvement.

ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN (APP)

Council noted the report on the APP and recommended

that Management re-formulates the APP in line with best