Fort Hare embraces ‘A decade of renewal’:
Modernised infrastructure, curriculum renewal and new research agenda driving UFH forward
In 2022, the University of Fort Hare unveiled its new consolidated five-year strategic plan, titled “Towards a Decade of Renewal”. With the appointment of a new council and top management team, the university community embraced the concept of renewal.
The new strategic plan serves as a blueprint for the upcoming reconstruction efforts over the next five years to strengthen the university. It incorporates principles of transformation, equity, and socioeconomic contextualization.
Now, midway through the plan, the university is on track to reclaim its position as one of the premier institutions of higher learning in South Africa and the continent.
Multimillion-rand greenfield infrastructure projects and property upgrades are either planned, underway or completed. These include smart classrooms, biometric security upgrades across all three campuses, a new student centre in the East London CBD, water security through the upgrading of water treatment plants in Alice, a new early childhood development centre and refurbishments for the Alice library.
These projects aim to enhance the student experience by providing modernised infrastructure and incorporating new technologies suitable for quality teaching and research.
Through curriculum renewal, UFH will offer innovative, socially and contextually relevant programmes to produce graduates with attributes that meet the needs of society and future workplaces.
Pending approval from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the Council on Higher Education (CHE), UFH will offer new programs in liberation and heritage studies, dairy science and technology and entrepreneurship.
UFH will also impact society through its new niche research, which responds to the National Development Plan (NDP), other national or regional priorities and the needs of stakeholders.
Last year, the institution launched its new niche areas: renewable energy; sustainable agriculture, water usage, and the impact of climate change; infectious diseases and medicinal plants; research in inclusion and township economies; and African liberation heritage in citizenship and society.
“UFH has committed to putting in the significant work required to strengthen its foundations and reimagine itself. The renewal project will see the university flourish increasingly as the end of the decade approaches,” said Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UFH.
“The institution will be offering new niche programs and cutting-edge curricula, conducting high-quality, high-impact research, supporting innovation, embracing innovative pedagogies, utilising hybrid modes of delivery, and providing a supportive learning and quality living environment for our students,” he said.
“We are currently reaping the rewards of the renewal programme, and there is stability within the university. No student unrest has occurred in the last three years. There is an explosion of student success both in and out of the classroom. Students are performing academically while also excelling in sports. Within a period of two years, our men’s and women’s rugby teams have lifted the Varsity Shield. New graduates are securing positions across the globe,” he said.
“Our mandate will be to ensure that the institution reclaims its place as a leading African university, with a continental, national and provincial focus, geared towards addressing contemporary challenges. We plan to continue to produce leaders who impact the trajectory of history. This was the role that the University of Fort Hare played in the past; this is the role it must continue to play now and in the future,” Prof Buhlungu concluded.
AngloGold Ashanti Research Chair in Dairy Science & Technology launches into a bright future :
The chair is part of UFH’s larger plan to be socially and contextually relevant
A new and innovative research chair for the dairy industry has been established at the University of Fort Hare (UFH), thanks to a generous R12.5 million endowment from AngloGold Ashanti. The plans and future of the project are filled with promises of creating new knowledge and developing needed human capacity.
The chair will be hosted by the university’s Department of Livestock and Pasture Science in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, and a leader for the chair will soon be appointed. This will oversee the rollout of a new BSc degree in Dairy Science and Technology, and a variety of research projects in the field. In addition, the work will hopefully open the door of opportunity to the establishment of a Faculty of Veterinary Science at the university.
The launch event of the chair was a lavish occasion that highlighted the importance of such a research entity, not only for the university but the dairy industry at large. As Dr Unathi Heshula said during the opening of the event: “There’s a beginning of a snowball effect that’s going to touch not only what we are doing today and generations to come, but also in terms of the institution itself.”
The origins of the chair stem from the work that the university is already doing in the dairy industry, particularly in its partnership with Amadlelo dairy farm. Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Fort Hare, Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, said that the interaction between the dairy farm and students is currently minimal, but holds much potential.
“The chair is a professorship that will then become the hub for research, training and for all sorts of other things will be based at this university,” he said. “After all, we’ve got the track record in science and agriculture, and then we’ve got the dairy farm. It’s a brilliant idea.”
This realisation then led the team to the need for an academic qualification in the country that focuses particularly on dairy science and technology. Beyond this, the university’s location in a key area for dairy farming nationally makes it perfectly suited for great impact in this field of expertise.
Prof Buhlungu said this led the team to seek funding for the chair, challenging themselves and potential partners to come up with R25 million in total. The university put R2.5 million towards this goal, and AngloGold Ashanti joined in with R12.5 million, making the establishment and launch possible.
“It’s here and now, at Fort Hare, and nowhere else in the country,” he said. “This is an idea whose time actually is now and we’re very grateful to all of you.”
Ambassador Baso Sangqu, Senior Vice President for Group Sustainability at AngloGold Ashanti, lauded the university for pioneering this project. “This endowment represents a new dawn for knowledge production to support industrial growth, food security, shared prosperity, inclusivity, socio-economic development, and the upliftment of stakeholders in the dairy sector, including the whole value chain and the rural development of our communities.”
He explained that even though the company no longer runs mining operations in the country, it honours its long legacy of supporting the communities it has historically drawn its workforce from, particularly the Eastern Cape. Sangqu said the university and AngloGold Ashanti shared the purpose of having a positive social impact. “We’re both driven by a societal purpose larger than our own institutions, and we’re underpinned by enduring universal values.”
Simpiwe Somdyala, Chief Executive Officer of Amadlelo Agri, echoed the excitement of what the chair will mean for the industry and province. He joked at the launch that he had considered wearing gumboots with his suit for the occasion to show that the partnership embodied practical as well as academic excellence.
“In countries like Canada, we’ve seen how research chairs have transformed societies and how through breakthrough technologies; we’ve seen new products being developed and new ways of doing things being initiated,” he said. “We’re hoping out of what we’re launching today, we will see that progress.”
Dr Nthabi Taole-Mjimba, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research Partnerships and Innovation at UFH, said the launch is a dream come true. “We are saying, as the University of Fort Hare, we want to remain relevant, especially here in the Eastern Cape, where most people rely on livestock.”
She emphasised that the chair is part of the institution’s larger plan to be a distinctively African university that is socially and contextually relevant. “We at the University of Fort Hare strive to be that African university that looks and tries to bring solutions through whatever we do. Through teaching and learning, research and community engagement, we want to be relevant to the communities that we serve.”
She explained that the project’s main objectives are to advance knowledge generation as well as human capital development. The focus on dairy technology, not just science, is another way to make a significant impact. “We are wanting to see products that actually come out through the utilisation of technology, when we do our research and ensure that possibly there will also be intellectual property that’s going to revive the economy of this province.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Milk Producers Organisation (MPO), Fanie Ferreira, said this project can be highly important and impactful for the industry at large. “There’s a big need for training in this area, specifically in the Eastern Cape, where there’s a huge amount of dairies, but a shortage of dairy managers.”
He explained that the industry faces a number of challenges, such as a dearth of products catering to lower-income groups. “We’re very glad to know that such a facility has been established now, and that we can work together with them to overcome all these challenges.”
Group Executive of Digital Transformation and Acting Deputy CEO of Research, Innovation, Impact Support and Advancement at the National Research Foundation (NRF), Dr Gugu Moche, called the chair a well-thought-through initiative. She said it embodies ideals of transformation, impact, excellence and sustainability.
She praised UFH’s innovative way of looking at funding opportunities, offering uniquely African solutions and advancing excellence. “At the end of the day, we will have not only research outputs, students graduating, and strengthened research capacities, but also a story that begins to talk about impact and transformation.”
The more immediate future of the chair is to appoint a team, solidify the BSc degree offering, and then develop further research and teaching. Sanqu said that he hopes the chair’s research outputs will be applied to communities far beyond the university and that a variety of stakeholders will play a part. “We look forward to seeing the fruits of these collaborations in the years to come, and we can assure you that we will accompany this process. “
Dr Taole-Mjimba emphasised that the future is long and bright, and that the chair is expected to last for many years. ”At the end of the day, we want to see this province changed for the better and to have the impact that one day, when we look back, we’ll see that this is what the University of Fort Hare did, and it has done it in a very meaningful way.”
University of Fort Hare to trailblaze with upcoming Bachelors in Dairy Science & Technology:
Producing skilled staff in this field will help to develop the Eastern Cape’s already significant dairy industry
South Africa’s first Bachelor’s degree focusing exclusively on dairy science and technology is set to be a crucial game changer for the University of Fort Hare (UFH) and the wider industry.
The vision for the degree programme came about through the university’s most recent strategic plan implementation, and particularly that each faculty creates a new, niche programme that speaks to the institution’s unique setting and advantages. The fact that the university is a stakeholder in a local, award-winning dairy, but wasn’t teaching abundantly on this subject, led to the idea of a BSc in Dairy Science and Technology.
This was then underscored by the fact that BSc programmes in the field of agriculture are some of the best-subscribed degrees in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at UFH. “So it was clear that we had all the main ingredients needed, and we just needed to put together a program that would leverage what we already had,” said Prof Renuka Vithal, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning at UFH and a professor of maths education.
While other higher education institutions in the country have modules on dairy science, this degree is special in its specific and thorough focus. “It would allow us to be a trailblazer in a very important area in the Eastern Cape and the country,” Prof Vithal said.
This course is especially important because the province is the largest and arguably the best producer of milk in the country. However, it does very little of the country’s milk processing. So, producing skilled staff in this field will speak to a significant need and opportunity.
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UFH, Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, said that the development of this degree was inspired by similar offerings internationally, such as in the Netherlands and France. “If we do it in South Africa, we’ll be the first, leading the pack,” he said.
The planned BSc is a four-year degree that allows direct access to a Master’s afterwards. The course content will build on the dairy science and technology elements already present in other programmes at UFH. It will also touch on food technology aspects to speak to the need for milk processing. The BSc programme is also being developed to consider relevant and developing issues, such as food security. The UFH team plans to articulate this program with the surrounding agricultural colleges, to give wider access to the community.
In the fourth year, there is also a research component, which will grow that capability in the department. This research will likely stem organically from the work with the local dairy farm, and possibly feed back into its work.
The degree programme is currently under review by the Department of Higher Education and Training, before going through approval processes at other relevant bodies. It will then hopefully come into effect in the next few years.
Prof Vithal explained how they are working towards their goals while waiting on the process. “In the meantime, we have allocated funding to upgrade our farms and we are doing a major renovation and upgrading of our agricultural labs so that we’ll have all the infrastructure in place in order to support the programme,” she said.
Dr Nthabi Taole-Mjimba, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research Partnerships and Innovation, added that there are further developments in this regard. “Currently we are trying to revamp our current research farm. It’s not in the best state, but we have started to work on it. We invested R9.7 million last year just to ensure that it becomes the state-of-the-art farm that we know.”
The recent launch and endowment of the AngloGold Ashanti Research Chair in Dairy Science and Technology at the University speaks to this wider vision. Vithal explained that once appointed, the Chair can then provide expertise in offering the programme once approved, and develop postgraduate and further research programmes.
“So, we have a long-term view on developing this as a niche area for the University of Fort Hare into the future that will provide the graduates needed to support this industry of dairy and milk production and technology in a serious way that can also be a major economic impetus to the province.”
Dr Taole-Mjimba added how the BSc will be building the foundation for further research and programmes, to ultimately have a significant impact. ”You will begin to see how the pipeline will then be strengthened to ensure that we have enough capacity in the province to do the things that we want to do in strengthening research in dairy science, but also supplying the much-needed human capital in the discipline.”
Prof Vithal said: “Besides placing the University of Fort Hare in a leading position in developing this as a key research niche area, and also producing graduates, this is also a very key component of producing graduates who could into the future directly support the development and growth of the dairy industry in the Eastern Cape.”
The long-term vision embraces the idea that the university could be key in growing the dairy industry in terms of processing, not just farming, and for both small-scale and large-scale farming. “The main goal is for the university to stimulate the sector in the province to then take the lead in providing the education, training and research infrastructure and the support and all the other things that are needed to establish the processing component of it.”
The university’s location means that the agricultural fields of study in particular attract a lot of local students, hence a state-of-the-art and inclusive programme would feed directly back into the area. “The University of Fort Hare would in a major way leverage its location in a rural context drawing on rural students coming from diverse settings and being able to then sustain and develop the economy, develop small and large businesses and so on into the future,” Prof Vithal said.
She said that this programme will also speak to how farming is developing internationally, especially in terms of technology used in fields like genetic analysis, farm management strategies and soil analysis. She believes that this can be particularly helpful to the province in the long run.
This programme will also fit into the university’s wider offering and complement it. For instance, a new Bachelor of Entrepreneurship is also in the approval process. “This will enable us to then provide entrepreneurship training across our Bachelor programs,” Prof Vithal said.
A key part of the plan is to eventually establish a new faculty of veterinary science, which would be only the second one in the country. Prof Vithal explained that in concept documents already submitted, this would have a particular focus on the need for livestock veterinarians in the country. “In the Eastern Cape, when companies or farms require veterinary services, they actually fly in vets.”
For now, the BSc in Dairy Science and Technology is an exciting first step towards building a stronger future for UFH and the region. Vithal has high hopes for the programme. “It just seems like it’s supposed to have been done yesterday!”
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