Nokuthula Ntuli
Professor Thandwa Mthembu has just been inaugurated as vice-chancellor of Durban University of Technology. reports
THE new vice-chancellor and principal of the Durban University of Technology has urged his staff to treat students better.
Speaking at his inauguration, Professor Thandwa Mthembu called for relations based on trust and mutual respect rather than rule enforcement.
The event at the Steve Biko campus yesterday was attended by leaders in government and academia, including the chancellor of DUT, Judge Vuka Tshabalala.
As the new caretaker for the institution’s strategic plan until 2019, Mthembu said staff had a responsibility to ensure DUT was “student-centred” by not only improving the services and facilities but by ensuring “students succeed in their education and training and that their welfare is at the top of our minds.”
He also called for accountability in the roles people have been assigned, adding staff and students were at DUT for a reason and should not expect someone to supervise them all the time to achieve the set tasks.
“I appeal to each member of the broader DUT community to establish their own personal bureaucracy and controls, otherwise known as