University of South Africa delegation visits University of California, Los Angeles

As the Unisa team went around, they got a “feel” for UCLA’s dedication and commitment to a user-friendly (especially for student users) campus. It is a clean, smart campus that quickly revealed the UCLA’s investment in issues of sustainability and ecological consciousness, as well as the creation for an enabling environment. The delegation was introduced to the following, among many others:

Outdoor studies

More biodiversity in order to grow more native plants and trees on campus

Smart electrical charging stations

A huge thermal energy storage facility

UCLA being one of the largest institutions in California to provide climate control for the Ronald Reagan Hospital. The latter is the hospital where the first lung transplant in the world was performed.

Electrical vehicle ownership encouraged

The campus tour was conducted by Nurit Katz, David Karwaski and Kelly Schmader.

On 07 December at the UCLA campus, the Unisa delegation had a fascinating session with Dr Mick Deluca, Assistant Vice-Chancellor, UCLA Student Affairs – Campus Life.

In his presentation, the following critical points among others, were highlighted:

The city of Los Angeles has a very diverse community and UCLA endeavours to reflect this.

UCLA students are being enabled to find and build a community. The institution is keen on catering for the holistic development of students and committed to life-long learning.

UCLA invests in cultural and ethnic identity and thus celebrates the diversity and the tapestry of the UCLA student community. To that end, various kinds of identity commencement (graduation) ceremonies are presented.

Students with a sense of belonging tend to be the best performers and a healthy campus can enable the creation of healthy communities

A robust question-and-answer session was led by Unisa’s Tshepo Neito and Bheki Nxumalo, facilitated by the Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor.