Inaugural lecture by Professor Archer and other updates

Dear colleagues and students

Professor Arlene Archer will present her lecture as part of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Inaugural Lecture series on Tuesday, 12 August 2025. Read more about this and other recent developments on campus.

1. Inaugural lecture by Professor Archer (Centre for Higher Education Development)

Professor Archer will deliver her lecture, “Critical access to higher education: A multimodal approach to academic literacies”, on Tuesday, 12 August 2025 at 17:45 SAST at the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking Afrika, The Atrium, ground floor, on middle campus.

Her lecture will explore how language and writing continue to shape access, inclusion and exclusion in higher education, particularly in the context of South Africa’s unequal educational system. She will draw from 26 years of experience at UCT’s Writing Centre; and will examine how students navigate dominant academic genres while incorporating their ways of knowing.

She argues that universities must move away from decontextualised models of student support that frame students as deficient. Instead, institutions must recognise and harness the rich resources students already possess. Her research promotes a multimodal approach to academic literacies that acknowledges diversity and supports meaningful inclusion.

Professor Archer is the head of the Writing Centre at UCT. She has published more than 80 works, including four edited books. She has led six internationally funded research projects and is the co-founding editor of Multimodality and Society (SAGE). She is a B1-rated researcher and holds an honorary doctorate from Örebro University in Sweden. She is also a fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study.

• Read the full VC Desk: UCT inaugural lectures for August 2025.
• Register to attend the lecture.

2. UCT’s financial performance for 2024

UCT has received an unqualified audit report for 2024, reflecting its commitment to enhancing the control environment, sound governance and safeguarding the university’s assets. The Annual Report, which includes the annual financial statements, was considered and approved by Council on 28 June 2025.

• Read the full CFO Desk: UCT’s financial performance for 2024.

3. Reminder: Share your feedback on UCT's Strategy 2030

UCT Vice-Chancellor (VC) Professor Mosa Moshabela marked the first anniversary of his tenure as VC on 1 August 2025 by unveiling Strategy 2030 – a milestone anchored within the university’s Vision 2030.

Professor Moshabela urged staff and students to share their feedback on the draft. He encouraged them to “help us make UCT the best home for you, a home where you can continue to explore your talents, push boundaries of excellence and activate the best version of yourself while you also contribute to the success of those around you and advance society at large”.

• Read the full VC Desk: One year in office: Expressing gratitude and unveiling Strategy 2030.
• Visit the UCT Strategy 2030 page.

4. Reminder: Complete the 2025 UCT commuting survey

Staff and students are reminded to participate in a short survey conducted by the UCT environmental sustainability directorate to understand the general commuting habits of staff and students. The results will help calculate UCT's annual carbon footprint. The survey should not take more than five minutes to complete and is open to all staff and students.

• Complete the survey.

The last survey of this nature was conducted in 2013, and updated information is now needed. All personal information will remain confidential and will not be shared publicly or with third parties.

Please refer to the UCT sustainability downloads page to view any past carbon footprint reports.

For any queries, please contact Manfred Braune.

5. USAf open call for impact case studies

Universities South Africa (USAf) invites UCT faculties to submit case studies of high impact arising from research and/or teaching at the university.

The primary objective for the call is to illustrate the profound and positive influence that UCT has on addressing societal challenges. This aligns with UCT Vision 2030 which seeks to ‘unleash human potential to create a fair and just society’.

By sharing impactful case studies, UCT aims to inform the public, stakeholders and the global community about the valuable contributions that UCT make towards creating positive change. For more exposure, USAf will publish selected case studies on its website and actively promote the societal benefit arising from the work done by South African universities.

Please use the guidance note and submission template provided. Using the provided template, limit each case study to a maximum of 1 500 words. Please submit only one PDF file per case study, no bigger than 2MB.

The faculty should submit three cases to Sonwabo Ngcelwane by Monday, 1 September 2025.

6. Access control system upgrade: temporary service interruption

UCT is upgrading its access control systems from 21 to 31 August 2025. The following services will be temporarily unavailable, while the university migrates data to the new system:

• Printing and issuing of new cards
• Changes to existing access permissions
• Visitor card services

All staff, students and third-party contractors will be affected. Please plan for this period.

Please note that the rest of the access control system (doors, turnstiles, etc.) should continue to function as normal.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements