Lessons on building a new varsity

It has been an exhilarating eight years for Professor Thoko Mayekiso as vice-chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga. For the mother of two (her daughter is a dermatologist and her son a doctoral student in business administration in the US) her role also meant “putting everything in place” at the new university.

From benefits for staff such as medical aid and pension to academic programmes, Mayekiso has done it all.

With the assistance of three colleagues who were part of the strategy team, Mayekiso said there was urgency around staff benefits, with the university incorporating 147 staff members from the agricultural college who were part of the government pension schemes.

“It is exciting developing such a big institution from scratch,” she said, admitting that it also comes with its own set of challenges.

Gesturing to the main campus in Mbombela where we were conducting the interview, Mayekiso said part of her legacy would be the building of the premises.

“I was involved in the planning … the selection of furniture, tiles and the beds for the student residence. When we started there was a golf course and a banana plantation.”

She said one of her challenges is still to make people understand that as a new university you cannot have all the facilities that an established university has.

“It is a process, a student centre is not a priority, we prioritise lecture halls. It is the same with the academic programme, we cannot start a new qualification until we meet certain requirements.

“To have an honours programme, you must have students who have finished third year. It can be frustrating to academics. Some were teaching third-year students, now they have to teach first years.”

Mayekiso enjoys watching sport to relax.

She said she was looking forward to running a small practice when her tenure ends. She also looks forward to spending time with her grandchildren.