Top achieving lecturers honoured at inaugural awards
TWO University of Zululand academics, Dr Neil Evans and Dr Maria Mabusela, were the big winners at the inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards held in Richards Bay on Friday, March 17.
Dr Evans, the acting HOD in the Department of Information Studies, walked away as the winner in the Emerging Academic Category, while Dr Mabusela, a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies, was crowned the winner in the Developed Academic Category.
They each walked away with R50 000, of which R45 000 will be used for research purposes as it has been allocated into a research account linked to a scholarship of teaching and learning.
The remaining R5000 is a cash incentive for each winner..
The other awardees were Dr Berrington Ntombela from the Department of English who was a second runner up in the Developed Academic category. He received R13 000 allocated to a research account and a R2 000 cash incentive. Dr Mike Megrove Reddy from the Department of Communication Science received a certificate of participation and a R500 voucher.
The awards, a first for the University, were held to honour, recognise and reward academic excellence. The successful hosting of these awards means that for the first time in history, the university will be represented at the prestigious Council on Higher Education (CHE) and Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association (Heltasa) Teaching and Learning Excellence Awards.
Mr PK Ramdeyal, a HELTASA Award recipient who was one of the two guest speakers at the glittering awards ceremony, stressed the importance of the awards saying they are not a popularity contest or a mere opportunity to give away money made available by the teaching development grant.
“The mechanisms and the criteria developed by both our institutions and by the national organisations such as the CHE and HELTASA have been well thought out and deliberately designed to ensure that the prescript of reflection becomes entrenched in our higher education”. The process of self-reflection was very important as it led to the improvement of teaching and learning, Ramdeyal added.
Delivering the keynote address, Dr Kwena Masha the Director for Academic Excellence at the University of Limpopo said the awards should be used to promote exponential growth. Those who had won the awards should become mentors to fellow academics, he said. “With teaching there must be learning. As you are teaching you must be learning. It is teaching and learning for the lecturer …
The learning is not for the students only. You must learn how to teach. You can’t just teach,” he said.
UNIZULU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Xoliswa Mtose, thanked the nominees for being self-reflective and encouraged other academics to do the same.
“Through these awards we seek to recognise and reward deserving academics who have made significant inroads and demonstrated impeccable accomplishments in the teaching and learning trajectory at our University”.
Professor Sandile Songca, the DVC for Teaching and Learning reminded the academics that the student is at the centre of teaching and learning “because it is the student that we want to produce and showcase to society”.
Accepting the award, Dr Evans said: “We live and we learn. Living and learning in higher education these days is not an easy thing”
Dr Mabusela heaped praises on the Teaching and Learning Centre for the support and mentorship it provides to academics. She also thanked the students saying they provided the platform where academics could reflect on their own teaching and correct themselves.
Dr Yasmin Rugbeer, the Director in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office thanked all the nominees for their passion and commitment to teaching. She said the portfolios had demonstrated excellence in teaching and will deepen the understanding in this “crucial aspect” of higher education.