Academics must use their skills outside of the lecture rooms, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said at his installation as chancellor of the University of Zululand last month. He also urged local business to get more involved with the university in projects designed to imbue professionals with various kinds of skills.
“Business has the social responsibility to invest in the human capital of tomorrow through providing funds, equipment and facilities, developing innovative projects to ensure practical learning environments,” he said.
Zuma also focused on the role of academics in university education. “Given our status as a developing society, we need our academics and intellectuals to play a role both inside and outside of the lecture room. We need them to find ways of sharing their knowledge and expertise with the community outside of the campus.”
Zuma said he was humbled to be installed as chancellor of the institution. “It is especially gratifying to receive such a distinction from the province of my birth. This honour means a lot, given my background, where I had to resort to self-education because all avenues for a formal education were closed.”
Zuma said that because of his background, he had made it his goal to promote education and skills development in the country. “I accepted this responsibility precisely because it is one of the ways in which I can fulfil my passion of ensuring that education continues to be prioritised. It is also because of my belief that education is one of the key assets of any nation.”
Zuma said the challenges facing higher education included the dwindling number of students, especially at historically disadvantaged institutions, and the lack of adequate training for managers. He added that several institutions were finding it difficult to adapt to the demands of the new global market.
“It is clear that we must not only be equal to the task of academic excellence, but also ensure that such excellence is not for its own sake but geared towards the realisation of the task that we as a country have set ourselves.
“A university that chooses to ignore these profound realities runs the risk of evolving itself into a white elephant – an ivory tower from which nothing emanates but academic decay and ignorance, with no relevance to our people’s plight.”
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, October 2001.