North-West University VC engages with student leaders on NWU strategy
North-West University (NWU) vice-chancellor Prof Bismark Tyobeka recently visited the Vanderbijlpark Campus to engage with student leaders from the Student Campus Council (SCC) and its substructures on the NWU’s strategy.
Student leaders were invited to share their thoughts and ideas to help shape the university strategy. This visit forms part of the multi-campus roadshows Prof Tyobeka is embarking on to gather input from various stakeholders.
During the session, the vice-chancellor and his team presented a roadmap reflecting the university’s unique strengths and challenges. Prof Tyobeka expressed his confidence that this roadmap would serve as a valuable tool for the NWU’s leadership and community as they work towards realising their vision and goals.
He said the higher education sector, like many other industries, has undergone several inflexion points that have compelled organisations to re-evaluate their approaches to remain relevant.
Prof Tyobeka emphasised the need for higher education in general and the NWU in particular, to stay attuned to these transformations and to respond proactively instead of reactively. He added that one aspect of the strategy was embracing digitisation as a mainstream offering to enable the NWU to be more efficient and to capitalise on its competitive advantages.
He further revealed that the university aspired to extend its global presence by maximising international collaborations to benefit the NWU and its students.
“Our strategy includes ‘valuing our people’ as one of four main principles. Within the student environment, we refer to it as ‘student centricity’. We are asserting that valuing our people – both staff and students – must go beyond mere lip service and manifest in how we conduct our business at the NWU, including all formal and informal student activities,” said Prof Tyobeka.
“Through the principle of student centricity, we recognise that our university becomes irrelevant without its students, as they are key stakeholders in taking the NWU forward. We all have a collective responsibility, yourselves included.”
Ntsiki Kote, chief strategy officer in the office of the vice-chancellor, said one of the NWU’s priorities is having a meaningful academic and social impact through innovative and forward-looking approaches and programmes, including having a palpable presence in the communities.
“Unemployment remains a challenge, and we want to bridge the gap between government and industry. To maximise opportunities for our graduates, we need to produce high-quality graduates and research that will benefit them.”