Staff survey on remote teaching and other updates

Dear colleagues

This campus announcement aims to inform the UCT community about recent developments on campus.

1. Staff survey on emergency remote teaching

With the second semester under way, staff working in academic units are invited to share insights and experiences on emergency remote teaching and learning through the UCT Staff Experiences Survey for Term 2, 2020.

• Read the DVC Desk: Staff survey on emergency remote learning.

2. UCT’s COVID-19 cases update

Since the last update, UCT now has 92 reported COVID-19 cases among non-health sciences staff members as at 25 August. The number of staff recoveries has increased to 76. The university has 35 reported student cases, including 10 Faculty of Health Sciences students on clinical platforms. Ten members of the UCT community – nine staff and one student – have sadly lost their lives during this period.

3. Taking a stance against SGBV and remembering Uyinene

High levels of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) remain a great concern in the country, a challenge that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. UCT remains committed to dealing with SGBV cases through a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of sexual violence and/or sexual harassment. This Women’s Month, the UCT community remembers our late student, Uyinene Mrwetyana, whose life was brutally taken away on 24 August 2019. The university executive will keep on improving services and the response to this scourge through improved SGBV management and awareness.

• Read the VC Desk: Taking a stance against SGBV and remembering Uyinene.
• View the photo essay: Remembering Uyinene.

4. Call for proposals: TLC2020

The 2020 Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC2020) provides an opportunity to check in with UCT colleagues, hear about their experiences and those of their students, and consider ways to transform teaching and learning at UCT during, and well beyond, the pandemic.

Proposals are welcomed for presentations, conversations and workshops that highlight hopeful paths to changing academic and student identities and where the university is heading during and beyond the current crisis.

TLC2020, as a first online conference, will support a range of formal and informal interactions that reaffirm and grow the UCT teaching and learning community.

• Read the DVC Desk: Call for proposals: TLC2020.

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements