TB Davie lecture by Professor Ramose and other updates

25 August 2026

Dear colleagues and students

The 60th TB Davie Memorial Lecture, to be presented by Professor Mogobe Bernard Ramose, will take place on Wednesday, 26 August 2026. Read more about this and other recent developments on campus.

1. TB Davie Memorial Lecture by Professor Ramose

Professor Mogobe Bernard Ramose will deliver the 60th TB Davie Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, 26 August 2026 at 18:00 in the New Lecture Theatre on upper campus. The lecture is open to the UCT community and members of the public.

RSVP for the lecture.

The lecture honours Thomas Benjamin Davie, who served as the University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor from 1948 to 1955 and was a strong advocate for academic freedom. Established by UCT students and organised annually by the Academic Freedom Committee, the lecture provides a platform for leading scholars and thinkers to reflect on academic freedom and broader questions of freedom in South Africa and internationally.

Professor Ramose’s lecture, titled Spes bona through “the Cape of Storms”, will explore the historical and philosophical significance of the Cape, from Bartolomeu Dias’s “Cape of Storms” to its later naming as the “Cape of Good Hope”, and reflect on the meaning of UCT’s motto, Spes Bona, or “Good Hope”.

Drawing on African philosophy and ubuntu, Professor Ramose will examine how colonial histories continue to shape debates about knowledge, justice, memory and freedom, while considering the role of universities in creating spaces for critical thought, dialogue and the pursuit of truth.

A leading South African philosopher and internationally recognised scholar of African philosophy, Professor Ramose is known for his work on ubuntu, justice, reconciliation, sovereignty and human dignity. He currently serves as a research professor at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University and as a researcher in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria.

2. TLC2026: Conference reception and proposal submission deadline

The deadline to submit proposals for the UCT Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC2026) is fast approaching. Submissions close on 31 August 2026.

Themed “Connection, Reconfigured: Reimagining Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence”, the conference will take place from 17 to 18 November 2026, with pre-conference workshops on 16 November 2026. Proposals are being reviewed on a rolling basis, with applicants receiving outcomes before 21 September 2026.

For the first time, TLC2026 will also feature a reception at the Baxter Theatre Concert Hall on 17 November at 16:30, to end off the first day of the conference. The reception will bring the conference theme to life through an excerpt from Autoplay, an immersive hybrid performance by Darkroom Contemporary, followed by a reflection from its director, Louise Coetzer, and a response from Dr Mbongeni Mtshali, director of Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies at UCT. The programme will also include the Distinguished Teacher Awards, hosted by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, followed by networking, canapés and drinks.

Free tickets are available via Quicket on a first-come-first-served basis. Full details on TLC2026, including the conference themes and proposal submission information, are available on the TLC2026 conference page.

Submit a proposal to present at TLC2026.

3. Reminder: UCT to co-host inaugural All-Africa Higher Education Xchange

The inaugural All-Africa Higher Education Xchange is almost here, with the event set to take place from 31 August to 1 September 2026. Co-hosted by UCT and Applied Higher Education (AppliedHE), the Xchange will mark the launch of the All-Africa Rankings Initiative, a long-term continental effort to develop an African-informed framework for recognising excellence across public and private higher education institutions.

The initiative comes as universities globally reconsider how excellence should be defined and measured. While global rankings offer useful benchmarks of institutional visibility, performance and accountability, they do not always capture factors such as societal impact, sustainability, innovation, graduate outcomes and public value. The All-Africa Rankings Initiative seeks to broaden this understanding by recognising the diverse missions, priorities and contributions of African universities.

The Xchange will bring together university leaders, governments, industry, policymakers, researchers and communities to consider what excellence should look like in African universities in the 21st century. It will provide a platform for collective dialogue on developing a more relevant and inclusive approach to understanding and measuring higher education excellence across the continent.