The School of Development Studies’ Professor Julian May, the NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Applied Poverty Reduction Assessment, will lead an e-discussion on Addressing Poverty issues through Education from March 2-8. The e-discussion will be conducted on the United Nations (UN) Academic Initiative Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ImpactUN. The UKZN community is encouraged to participate in the discussion which will cover issues such as whether there should there be free access to tertiary education, what kinds of education incentives ought to be available from government (including vocational training), strategies to reverse brain drain and how to ensure local talent is utilised.

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs is partnering with the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) initiative to host an e-discussion series on the theme Building a Future for Today’s Youth: Improving Access to Education.

Inyuvesi yaKwaZulu-Natal (i-UKZN) kanye nezikhungo eziyiskhombisa zazwelonke zisungule umtholampilo, iVIBE Youth Clinic, engowukuqala e-Africa ukucwaninga ngesifo, isichenene esithikameza isitho sangasese kubantu besifazane. Lo mtholampilo uvulwe oGwini endaweni yasePort Shepstone ngoFebruary 18.

Ukusungulwa kweVIBE Youth Clinic kugqugquzelwe wucwaningo olujulile olwenziwa yizikhungo i-UKZN, Oslo University Hospital (eseNorway), University of Agder (eseNorway), Sorlandet Hospital (eseNorway), University of Antwerp (eseBelgium), Imperial College (ese-UK), Leiden University Medical Centre (yaseNetherlands), kanye neDanish Bilharziosis Lab, yase-University of Copenhagen, eDenmark.
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Dean of Education, Professor Michael Samuel, received the Ubuntu Award for his contribution to the field of Education from the Turquoise Harmony Institute at the Ubuntu Lecture and Awards ceremony held in Cape Town recently.

The institute, which organises the annual ceremony, is part of an international movement promoting mutual respect of all religions, cultures and peoples. The non-evangelical movement recognises individuals who make a selfless contribution in their chosen field aiming to bring about a deep commitment and build the quality of society in general.

Held at the Golden Horse Casino in Pietermaritzburg, Pugh’s motivational talk focused on climate change and the environment, highlighting his quest to raise awareness about the fragility of our planet.  According to Pugh, “Everything is linked to climate change.”  He said, “We have now learnt to accept there is a global economic climate, that what happens on Wall Street affects London, Paris and the world. We have to relate the same way to climate change and realise that when something happens in the Antarctic or to a glacier in the Himalayas, it affects all of us.”

Both came second in the KwaZulu-Natal IEB matric exam in 2009 and 2010 respectively and both have decided to study Law at UKZN. But brother and sister, Mr Darren and Ms Kirsty Frances say that they are very different from one another.

Hailing from Umhlanga, the siblings said their parents never pushed for them to be academically excellent, but gave them the tools to develop. 

Kirsty said that there has never been competition between them and being on the same level is a new experience. Even though they are both in Law, they have chosen different electives and won’t be in classes together all the time. Darren is very interested in politics, while Kirsty would like to practice Law and be an attorney.

Students enrolled in the Access Programme at UKZN’s Faculty of Humanities, Development and Social Sciences (HDSS) were left inspired after sharing stories of perseverance with friends from the Bronx Community College (BCC) at the City University of New York.

At a research seminar on the Howard College campus, hosted by the School of Language, Literature and Linguistics, students witnessed the benefits of the work and research done by Associate Professor, Andrea Parmegiani from the BCC and Dr Veena Lutchman of UKZN, which afforded them the opportunity to build international partnerships with like students and share experiences of their transition into tertiary institutions, having come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The MEC for Finance in KwaZulu-Natal, Ms Ina Cronjé visited UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus on February 10 to give a presentation on the preparation of the 2011/2012 Provincial Budget which will be tabled in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature on March 8. This is the first time such a presentation has been made at the University.

This Pre-Budget Information Session was hosted by the Faculty of Management Studies in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury in order to expose commerce academics and students to the complex budget process. It was the first in a series of community-based consultative sessions to be hosted by the Provincial Treasury leading up to Provincial Budget Day.

The UKZN-based organisation, Health Economics and HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD), has co-ordinated the transfer of a substantial grant from The Merck Company Foundation to the University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology to provide scholarships for up to seven students for a new Masters programme called Pharmaeconomics.

‘HEARD was awarded this grant which essentially had two components; research and capacity building, and the Merck scholarship to students is part of the capacity building arm of the grant,’ said senior researcher at HEARD, Mr Gavin George. ‘We identified HEARD, a research company that embraces research and health solutions,’ said Ms Dorothy Mwangu who represented the The Merck Company Foundation.

The Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) and UKZN have reached an agreement to provide employment internship opportunities to unemployed graduates.  ETDP SETA, through a discretionary grant (a government intervention), will also be providing 1 200 bursaries to students that are financially disadvantaged.

As announced by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, ETDP SETA has been re-established for the period 2011-2016 to promote and facilitate the delivery of education, training and development in order to enhance the skills profile of the ETD (Education, Training and Development) sector and contribute to the creation of employment opportunities especially for those previously disadvantaged.

UKZN’s Centre for Research in Environmental, Coastal and Hydrological Engineering (CRECHE) held the first in a series of high profile seminars on Climate Change on February 14.  The speaker was Professor Lord Julian Hunt, Emeritus Professor of Climate Modelling in the Department of Earth Sciences and Honorary Professor of Mathematics at University College London.

Lord Hunt noted that most countries worldwide are taking the issue of climate change seriously. He added that climate change has long been a theory but there is now strong scientific evidence to support it.

The Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) recently hosted a participatory workshop aimed at getting postgraduate students into gear for the new academic year. 

The workshop opened with an exercise in which students were asked to stand in a circle, and introduce themselves one by one whilst clapping their hands to a beat.

Other fun exercises followed, all of which were geared towards enabling students to identify some of the problems they may experience during the course of their studies, especially within the context of group work.