Celebrating Women's Month and other updates

Dear colleagues and students

Women’s Month is celebrated throughout August in South Africa and, as part of the celebrations, the University of Cape Town (UCT) recently hosted a luncheon to honour womxn within the campus community. Read more on this and other updates below.

1. Celebrating Women’s Month

After two years of virtual events, the university hosted the annual Women’s Day luncheon on 10 August 2022 to honour award recipients of the UCT For Womxn By Womxn research grants and womxn from across the university.

The keynote address was delivered by Liberty Matthyse, gender activist and the executive director of Gender DynamiX. By using a human rights framework, Gender DynamiX undertakes to advance, promote and defend the rights of trans- and gender nonconforming persons in South Africa, Africa and globally.

• Watch: UCT’s Women’s Day lunch celebrates trans women and women in research.
• Read the VC Desk: Celebrating Women’s Month.
• Read: ‘Yes, trans women are women’.

2. GESDA competition closing date looming

African youth are often left out of impactful science engagements. Any young person who has ideas about how science can be used to improve the lives of Africans is encouraged to enter the UCT GESDA competition by 24:00 SAST on Friday, 19 August 2022. The prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Geneva, Switzerland, where the winner will get an opportunity to share their ideas with the rest of the world. Please log into your usual Google account in order to access and complete the entry form.

• Enter the competition.
• Watch: A video message from the Vice-Chancellor.

3. CHE site visit – open session and written feedback

The Council on Higher Education (CHE) institutional audit site visit got underway on Monday, 15 August 2022. Interviews for the first three days were held online via Microsoft Teams. On the last two days (18–19 August), the panel will physically visit UCT for interviews and tours. The programme included an open session where any member of the university community could address the audit panel on any quality-related matter. The university community may also provide written submissions on any aspect of quality management to the chairperson of the audit panel via the CHE. 

• Read the VC Desk: CHE site visit – open session and written feedback.

4. 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference

The 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC 2022) will adopt a hybrid approach with the first day of the conference (Tuesday, 25 October) being in person and the second day (Thursday, 27 October) being virtual. The focus for this year’s TLC is: Vision 2030 and a socially just teaching and learning environment at UCT. Proposals for the conference are now open and submissions close on 9 September.

For any further queries, please contact cilt.events@uct.ac.za.

• Read the DVC Desk: 2022 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference.
• Read more about TLC 2022.
• Submit a proposal to present at TLC 2022.

5. ICTS scheduled maintenance on Sunday, 21 August

Please note that there is an extended scheduled maintenance slot by Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) on Sunday, 21 August 2022 from 08:00 to 17:00. All ICT services other than UCT email and other Microsoft 365 services will be unavailable for the duration of the maintenance slot.

Please remember to consult the scheduled ICTS maintenance slots before planning any teaching, conferences, meetings, etc that require ICT services. For more information, see the article on why ICTS schedules regular monthly maintenance slots.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements