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UCT Food Security Programme
01 February 2019 | Story Pete van der Woude. Photo Robert Owen-Wahl. Read time 2 min.
The UCT Food Security Programme, which was introduced last year, resumed on Monday, 28 January 2019. The programme is a collaborative initiative between several departments, as well as student and staff volunteers from across the university.
The initiative was launched during the November examination period last year to address the issue of student hunger, while promoting the dignity and agency of students, all underpinned by a spirit of volunteerism.
The UCT Food Security Programme is now providing free packed lunches to students in need from Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 14:00 in Room 1.04 on Level 1 of the Robert Leslie Social Science Building on Upper Campus.
The task team is appealing for more staff and student volunteers to assist with the preparation and distribution of the lunch packs.
To volunteer, or for further information, please contact Edwina Brooks (Edwina.Brooks@uct.ac.za / 021 650 3924) or Chance Chagunda (Chance.Chagunda@uct.ac.za / 021 650 4054).
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New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP)
UCT has responded energetically to the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP), an opportunity provided by the Department of Higher Education (DHET) to build a new generation of black South African academics. The DHET’s 2015 vision document, “Staffing South Africa’s Universities Framework: A comprehensive, transformative approach to developing future generations of academics and building staff capacity”, proposes a suite of initiatives to address the challenge, with nGAP being the major instrument to increase the numbers of black South African academics.
The programme “involves the recruitment of highly capable scholars as new academics, against carefully designed and balanced equity considerations and in light of the disciplinary areas of greatest need”. The nGAP scholars are appointed into permanent positions where from the outset their conditions are customised to ensure their successful induction into the ranks of established academics.
The DHET provides funding over a six-year period to support the appointment of an nGAP lecturer, and their time is protected to provide the best possible opportunity for the completion of a doctorate degree in the shortest possible time. Once the degree is completed, the nGAP lecturer’s teaching commitments are steadily increased until they shoulder a full teaching load.
Since the first advertisement for nGAP posts in 2015, UCT has been awarded 17 nGAP positions: 5 (Phase 1), 4 (Phase 2), 3 (Phase 3) and 5 (Phase 4). These are distributed across all faculties.
UCT’s nGAP scholars operate as a single cohort, managed and coordinated by Dr Robert Morrell. Lecturers meet for quarterly meetings, writing retreats and various capacity-building activities all designed to support the completion of postgraduate qualifications (particularly doctorates) and to develop records of achievement that will testify to their emergence as self-standing, excellent academics. Each lecturer is mentored by a senior scholar, who provides support and guidance on the challenges that routinely face academics.
The nGAP manager sets great store in building the cohesion of the cohort and encouraging the establishment of new UCT networks while producing a collaborative, mutually supportive and embracing work culture.
According to Dr Morrell, “This group of academics will lead UCT in 15 to 20 years’ time ... Their vision of excellence, of being African and South African, of serving a wider community and producing knowledge for the planet, the continent and the country, will power UCT in years to come.”
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