University News

28/03/2024

The latest Nelson Mandela University information to keep you informed and up to date. This features news stories about outstanding achievements, new developments, announcements and successes at our University.

International Emerging Scholar Award for Visual Communication lecturer

Nelson Mandela University's Media and Communication lecturer Tarryn Rennie has been awarded an Emerging Scholar Award at the recent Design Principles and Practices International Conference in Valencia, Spain.

Tarryn (right), together with her PhD supervisor Dr Subeshini Moodley (far right), presented their research on the “E-book Online Repository: Digital Archiving from Crisis Response to Pedagogical Opportunity” at the conference.

The award, in recognition of excellent scholarship and the promise of significant future achievement, was based on her current collaborative research and engagement activities.

These include the E-Book Online Repository, as well as her research on how design and visual communication can influence, change and enrich peoples' lives in a positive way, particularly in education and the healthcare industry.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News

Indaba tracks strides and gaps in Africanisation and Decolonisation at Mandela University

After being reintroduced by the #MustFall student movement of recent years, the higher education sector, in general, and Nelson Mandela University, in particular, have been grappling with the practical expression of Africanisation and Decolonisation in the system.

From left, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sibongile Muthwa, Deputy Vice-Chancellor People and Operations Luthando Jack, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching Dr Muki Moeng and SRC President Student Representative Council President, Yiva Makrwede

While strides have been made in advancing this complex concept, there remain some critical gaps in its expression and, ultimately, how those in the university system are experiencing higher education against this backdrop.

This, and other contributions, were made during a two-day Africanisation-Decolonisation Indaba at Mandela University earlier this month, jointly hosted by the institution’s Africanisation-Decolonisation Working Group (ADWG) and the Transdisciplinary Institute for Mandela Studies (TIMS), in collaboration with its faculties as part of its Africanisation-Decolonisation Programme (AfDeP).

Framed by institution’s name change in 2017 and its Vision 2030 strategy that envisions a ‘dynamic African university’, the Indaba questioned what decolonisation does, and can, look like at Mandela University, and what it does, and can, look like through the lens of Mandela, the social figure.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News

Addressing racism and democracy through literature

The role of literature in addressing issues of racism and democracy in South Africa today was the theme at the recent Dennis Brutus Institutional Public Lecture hosted by Nelson Mandela University’s Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD).

From left, the audience, Dr Nomathamsanqa Tisani, Fortunate Jwara and Vice-Chancellor Prof Sibongile Muthwa.

The lecture at the South End Museum on 18 March, reflected on the work of the anti-Apartheid activist, educator, and poet, who was often defined within the movement of ‘protest literature’, by literary scholars.

Keynote speaker, Dr Nomathamsanqa Tisani, whose research in history covers 18th and 19th century writings on African historiography, responded to the critical question.

“Racism is the division of humanity into two: a group that is fair complexioned, with straightish hair, that regards itself as superior”.

“And another group that has melanin hair that coils, that is considered inferior”, she said.

The mentality of the colonisers has also seeped into the DNA of the Westerners, as well as those who racism affects.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News

eNtsa’s newly launched engagement and innovation facility a boost for EC auto industry

Nelson Mandela University’s engagement institute, eNtsa, marked a significant milestone in the Eastern Cape’s automotive component and marine manufacturing industries, with the launch of its new engagement and innovation facility.

Collaboration partners from Nelson Mandela University, through eNtsa, and the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC-EC), with MEC for Finance, Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mlungisi Mvoko. Back, from left, Riccardo Temmers, Executive Manager: Future Skills and Sustainable Energy; Professor Danie Hattingh, eNtsa Director; Edem Foli, uYilo Programme Manager and Thabo Shenxane, CEO, AIDC-EC. Front, from left, Dr Martin Sanne, Nelson Mandela University/AIDC-EC Automotive Chair; Professor Marshall Sheldon, Executive Dean of Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology; MEC Mvoko; Professor Sibongile Muthwa, Nelson Mandela University Vice-Chancellor; Phumzile Zitumane, AIDC-EC Board Chairperson and Julien de Klerk, eNtsa Engineering Engagement Director.

This new facility is set to provide product and material testing to the automotive and marine manufacturing industries, with funding support creating access to subsidised cost testing, bringing innovation and precision to the forefront of product localisation.

Located at Mandela University’s Ocean Sciences Campus, the engagement and innovation facility hosts advanced testing equipment such as environmental testing, corrosion testing chambers, a collaborative robot test bed, 3D scanning and the capacity to host new expansions to support future industry needs.

These include testing for structural integrity, hydrogen infrastructure, additively manufactured products and many more.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News

Gender and Sexual Diversity through the lens of Human Rights

Mandela University’s Faculty of Education’s Primary School Education Department and the Arts and Social Sciences Discipline at Missionvale Campus with a guest lecture on “Gender and Sexual Diversity through the lens of Human Rights”.

Education's Dr Tobeka Mapasa, left, and Dr Kagola Obakeng, right, together with the speaker Prof Anthony Brown; Foundation Phase students among the audience attending the lecture.

Professor Anthony Brown, from the Department of Educational Psychology at Stellenbosch University outlined the legal and ethical foundation of LGBTQI+ inclusion as a human rights imperative in education.

He discussed the dire consequences when schools fail to protect the rights of sexual and gender minority learners and provided a framework for how future teachers can examine their own values and beliefs to uphold their professional responsibilities to all learners, regardless of identity.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News

Research, learning and teaching to benefit from AI innovation collaboration

elson Mandela University’s Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences has been collaborating with Aptagrim, a software company in India, to contribute towards research, learning and teaching. This follows after Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research Professor Azwinndini Muronga signed a Collaborative Agreement with Aptagrim’s CEO, Sreegopal Mandapaka in October 2023.

From left, Professor Paul Poisat, Sreegopal Mandapaka and Prof Grant Freedman

“The adoption of this technology is developing and growing at an unprecedented rate, and it sparks fears of loss of jobs and displacement, and yet AI innovation can – and does – enhance business and has many more applications”, said Professor Paul Poisat, Acting Director of the Mandela University Business School at a Breakfast Conversation.

The event, entitled Using AI for Good was hosted together with Sreegopal Mandapaka in October 2023. It was therefore imperative that the University, and the Faculty in particular, provide education for the numerous new careers that will emerge in the future world of work.

Mandapaka agreed that AI was changing the landscape of work, and at the same time it was also giving developing countries an opportunity to scale innovation. He noted that AI had advanced far beyond relying only on a single language of input, such as English.

Read more here: Nelson Mandela University News