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Mangosuthu University of Technology Annual Report

61

Since its inception, MUT has been driven by the mandate

of transformation. MUT was established 36 years ago with

the main purpose of producing skilled technicians in order

to bridge the skills gap orchestrated by the apartheid

legacy.

Student Related Transformation Initiatives

Altogether, 84% of MUT students could be classified as

poor as denoted from the LSM definitions based on family

income, inferring that they attended under-resourced

no-fees schools in poverty quintile 1 to 3 as classified

by the Department of Basic Education. Therefore, MUT

student population is characterised by gifted but mostly

underprepared young people from disadvantaged

backgrounds in real need for empowerment through

quality science, technology and business management

education.

In order to ensure access with success, MUT is expanding

its foundation programmes. In 2015 the University has

managed to received approval for three additional

foundation programmes.

The teaching and learning development centre at MUT

has implemented a business intelligence system for

tracking “at risk” students. The purpose of this system is

to identify these students early for remedial support to

be provided timeously. In addition, MUT has rolled out

tutorials for all academic programmes.

The demographic data for MUT student shows that MUT

comprise of 99% African students of which above 80% are

from the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

12. REPORT ON TRANSFORMATION

Figure 12.1 Student Demographics at MUT

STUDENT

FEMALE

GROUP

Year

HEADCOUNT

%

AFRICAN COLOURED INDIAN

WHITE

2010

10,033

52

10,015

8

9

1

2011

10,286

51

10,261

10

9

6

2012

10,802

51

10,776

12

10

4

2013

11,375

50

11,340

16

14

5

2014

11,377

49

11,334

16

24

3

2015

11,512

48

11,463

15

27

7

It is interesting to note that over the past five years MUT

has an average of 50% female student enrolment as shown

in Figure 12.1.

MUT is committed to attracting students from other

populations groups, provinces and other African

countries particularly Southern African countries. In 2015,

the marketing and communications directorate at MUT

embarked on various campaigns to recruit students from

non-African population groups, other provinces, SADC

countries as well as students with disability.

Staff Related Transformation Initiatives

In 2015, the teaching and learning development centre

at MUT rolled out 8 training/professional development