Biokineticist and doctoral candidate Ms Takshita Sookan has been selected to join the prestigious Research Capacity (RCI) of the South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD).

Recently graduated with a cum laude Masters degree in Biokinetics and currently enrolled for a PhD degree, Ms Takshita Sookan is a recipient of the College of Health Sciences Scholarship for running expenses and a UKZN Doctoral Scholarship.

SANPAD is a unique collaborative research programme designed to develop the research capacity primarily of junior or inexperienced researchers to further research excellence.

UKZN Civil Engineering student and cum laude graduate, Mr Bongani Dladla, has topped his class, scooping three awards for his achievements. He also obtained a 100 percent pass mark for his dissertation – a rare and commendable feat.

This was announced during the prize-giving ceremony held in honour of final year Civil Engineering students – many of whom have already begun their professional careers. A total of 14 prizes were awarded to students who excelled in various categories.

Dladla received the J R Daymond Prize, awarded to the student who achieves the highest academic merit in water and environmental engineering, and the Walter Morgan Thomas Prize, awarded to the student who achieves the overall highest academic merit in final year.

Essays and Source Material on Southern African-Irish History, edited by Professor Donal McCracken of UKZN’s Centre for Communication, Media and Society, was recently launched by Irish Ambassador to South Africa, Mr Brendan McMahon. 

This new book, the fourth in the occasional series Southern African-Irish Studies edited by McCracken, records the saga of the Irish Diaspora in Africa.  It was published by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

According to McCracken, the population of Ireland declined by half after the great Famine of the 1840s.

UKZN student leaders who graduated during the April Graduation ceremonies were honoured for their achievements during an inaugural UKZN student leadership Graduation celebration on the Westville campus.

Master of Ceremonies and one of the achievers, Mr Mnikeni Phakathi, reminded the audience of the objectives of student leadership.

Executive Director: Student Services, Dr Sibusiso Chalufu, was impressed by the high standard of the event, telling students they had set the tone for future ceremonies.

Malawian Professor Gregory Kamwendo is the new Dean and Head of the School of Education.  Kamwendo says he is excited about putting his skills and experience to their full use at UKZN.

‘I flew into Durban from Gaborone in Botswana on 1 May and the next day I found myself in the Dean's seat. Change of work place is never easy, even if you have to change within the same country or institution. In addition, the Office of Dean and Head of School is very demanding. But I am pleased to say that I have been warmly received,’ said Kamwendo.

‘Support is coming in from all angles - academic staff, professional staff and students, and even people who are outside UKZN. I have been here for just three weeks now but I am no longer a stranger. 

UKZN Lecturers Professor Bice Martincigh and Dr Nyna Amin received Distingushed Teacher Awards at a gala dinner at the Westville campus hosted by the University Teaching and Learning Office (UTLO).

Welcoming guests, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, said coming from a family of teachers he considered teaching to be the ‘family business', adding  that from an early age he had learned to ‘value and respect the profession' and would always be there to support it.

The award acknowledges excellence and innovation in teaching annually.

Bachelor of Business Science student Mr Sumanth Sunkari has been selected for the South Africa team going to the 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Australia in August.

Sunkari secured his place in the 23-man squad after taking part in the Cricket South Africa Cubs Week – an Under 19 cricket tournament in Stellenbosch in January. After scoring an impressive three 50s and taking six wickets in total he was selected to attend the National Academy in Pretoria, where he is currently preparing for the World Cup.

‘I feel very privileged to be a part of the SA U19 squad and it is a great honour for me to be recognised on a national level,’ said Sunkari. 

A UKZN academic and advanced trainer for the organisation Speed, Agility and Quickness (SAQ®) International, Dr Andrew McKune,  presented  awards to more than 50 delegates of the Namibian Biokinetics Association following a successful training programme in South Africa.

The awards - Performance Movement and Special Needs (Children) - were the first of their kind in Namibia, where McKune - an Associate Professor of Exercise Science at UKZN's College of Health Sciences - is also supervising two candidates for Masters and PhD qualifications.

Commerce in Leadership Studies Masters graduate Mr Andrew Layman plans to put his recently acquired qualification to good use in the development of local economic development strategies in his job as Chief Executive Officer of the Durban Chamber of Commerce.

Layman was among the first batch of students under the Gijima KwaZulu-Natal Local Economic Development (LED) Programme who graduated in April.  He is a stellar example of the programme’s success in the career path growth of its participants being promoted during the course to his current position after serving as CEO of Pietermaritzburg’s Chamber of Commerce.

More than 100 UKZN medical professionals recently graduated from the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) as new fellows.

The Graduation ceremony in Durban was held to recognise doctors from various institutions of higher learning in the country who passed CMSA specialist examinations.

The CMSA is the custodian of the quality of medical care in South Africa and is unique in the world in that it embraces 28 constituent colleges representing all the disciplines of medicine and dentistry.

The challenges and interventions for HIV sero-discordant couples were debated during a Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) monthly presentation at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine campus co-ordinated by UKZN’s Enhancing Care Initiative (ECI).

Professor James Hakim, Head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Zimbabwe’s College of Health Sciences and Principal Investigator for the University’s MEPI Programme in Harare, spoke on heterosexual HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.

Hakim explained the term sero-discordant couple was used to refer to a relationship where one partner was HIV positive and the other HIV negative. 

Launched in Cardiff on 25 May 2010, the stated aims of the Society are ‘to enable Wales to participate at the highest level in the international world of learning and scholarship, and to promote the academic excellence and achievements of Wales to the wider world’.

The Society is open to people ‘who are resident in Wales or are persons of Welsh birth but are resident elsewhere, or who otherwise have a particular connection with Wales’.

UNksz Angeline Stephens oqokwe njengomphathi wakwaStudent Support Services eKolishini lakwaHumanities uthe uzoqikelela ukuphathwa okukahle kwalomnyango.

UStephens uwujabulele lomsebenzi emva kokusebenza iminyaka eyisikhombisa emnyangweni wezeMfundo eKZN, aphinde asebenze eceleni enza umsebenzi ophathelene ne-Individual and group psycho-therapeutic and psycho-social interventions, assessments and research.

‘Ngikulangazelele ukwazi engizosebenza nabo e-UKZN nabafundi.

Click here for english version

Exploring Problem-Based Learning was the title of a seminar presented by Dr Fayth Ruffin of the School of Management, IT and Governance as part of the College Dean of Teaching and Learning’s ongoing forum series in the College of Law and Management Studies.

Ruffin took the participants at the seminar – some of whom were from other colleges – through the learning journey that she completed with her 120 students in the module Introduction to Public Sector HR Management.

‘Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered teaching and learning modality designed to develop critical thinking and analytical skills and abilities,’ said Ruffin. 

Mindful Leadership and the Perils of Ordinary Perception was the title of a lecture given by Professor Kriben Pillay, Dean of Teaching and Learning in the College of Law and Management Studies, at the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein recently.

Pillay was invited to deliver the presentation by CUT’s Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Professor Albert Strydom.

Pillay’s hour-long address, attended by members of the University’s executive management, academics and the public, emphasised the importance of mindfulness as an essential evolutionary capacity for being in today's complex world.

The School of Built Environment and Development Studies recently hosted an informative research seminar on the Howard College campus led by Professor Edward Webster of the University of the Witwatersrand.

Webster's research was a reflection on the contested nature of the developmental path South Africa has taken in the post-apartheid period in the field of industrial relations.

Webster argued that the rise of labour as a key component of the internal liberation struggle laid the foundations for a new union-friendly labour regime.