The University of Transkei (Unitra) has appointed a former interim administrator, Professor Nicholas Morgan, as its first vice chancellor and principal in almost four years.
While the move was shrugged off on Wednesday by education ministry officials as a ”Unitra council matter”, it is unlikely that Minister Kader Asmal will welcome it.
Asmal recently announced that Unitra’s medical school would be incorporated into Fort Hare, while the rest of the facility would merge with the Border and Eastern Cape Technikons.
But Unitra has long held that the under-developed Transkei region needs a university and the new move is the strongest indication yet that it will not take closure lying down.
Unitra has strongly consolidated its position this year, first by electing its first council since 1999 and now by the appointment of Morgan as vice chancellor.
As acting administrator in 2001, Morgan spearheaded the university’s drive to turn itself around.
University representative Karuna Krishanlal-Gopal said the university could ill-afford a leadership vacuum and that Morgan was known for his ”strong, visionary management”.
She said that under Morgan, Unitra conducted an intensive budgetary realignment exercise in 2001 that had seen it make steady progress towards achieving ”financial viability and service excellence”.
”His appointment at the University has been unanimously supported by the stakeholders within Unitra as well as in the broader Eastern Cape region,” Krishanlal-Gopal said.
Morgan is currently the Academic Vice Principal at Technikon South Africa. He will be assuming official duties at Unitra in October. – Sapa