“Impala project has created an effective platform for widening the horizon of both leaders, academics and administrators,” said Prof Edward Nesamvuni, University Registrar addressing the audience during the Welcome function of Impala Workshop. The welcome function took place on Monday, 25 September 2017 at Life Sciences foyer. The workshop ended on Wednesday, 27 September 2017.
Univen understands internationalisation at the institutional level -Prof Edward Nesamvuni
Prof Nesamvuni further said that the University of Venda (Univen) understands internationalisation at the institutional level. He said internationalisation of the core business of the university is a core pillar of Univen’s transformation process to become and remain a locally relevant, internationally competitive university. Prof Nesamvuni told the visitors from all partnering universities that Univen has recently succeeded in developing a strong policy framework for internationalisation and strengthening collaboration. “This has helped Univen at both national and international level and has also helped to established appropriate services for international students. Univen recognises its diverse community as a core resource to incubate intercultural and international competencies and to produce new knowledge.”
He said Univen is working towards achieving a target of 5% international students from the SADC region as envisaged in the 1997 SADC protocol on Higher Education and Training. “Univen will in future identify key partners and develop sustainable, mutually beneficial, in depth relationships with them to develop projects that will prepare students for global citizenship,” concluded Prof Nesamvuni.
Ms Inge Caenen spoke on behalf of Mr Piet Van Hove who couldn’t make it to the Workshop.
Ms Inge Caenen, Policy Advisor for International Relations at Antwerp University said that the University of Venda has been a strong and committed partner in all of their Eurosa projects, and now Impala, from the beginning. “It is wonderful to be able to bring our group to Thohoyandou for this training week, but it would not be possible without the hospitality and the hard work of the people here at Univen,” she said.
She added that the Impala project is all about advancing the cause of Internationalisation of higher education. “After the training week in Cape Town and the site visits in Europe, this is the third main event in our work plan. In particular, we will be working on four topics this week: project writing and management, organising summer schools and short programmes, creating a mobility toolkit and internationalising the curriculum. The workshops are meant to be practical in nature, helping the participants to set up new initiatives at their universities in the coming months,” she concluded.
Ms Inge Caenen has further presented a speech on behalf of Mr Piet Van Hove, the Director of InternationalOffice at the University of Antwerp, also the Project Coordinator for Impala Projects who could not make it to the workshop.
In the speech, Mr Van Hove said: “I want to express my personal and sincere thanks to the leadership and the staff of the University of Venda for graciously hosting this week’s workshop, and to all others involved in making the workshop a success. Success does not come easily, so I am proud to see that everyone involved in the Impala project is putting their whole heart and mind into making it happen.” He further stated that, “It is with deep regret that he is not able to attend the event because it is such an important step for Impala project”. In his speech it he mentioned that, “fruitful collaboration between partners requires a lot of dedication and trust. Real trust can only be achieved by bringing people together face to face. For that reason, I am very happy such a diverse and excellent group of participants of this workshop.” He indicated that after the success of the training week in Cape Town earlier this year, this week marks another major step for the Impala project. “I wish you all a great workshop, with many new ideas to work on in the coming months and a strengthened network of Impala colleagues to help you achieve lasting results,” he said.
For every organization to succeed or achieve intended goals, cooperation is the key – Chief Nkhumbuleni Ratshitanga
Chief Nkhumbuleni Ratshitanga, Acting Director of the Department of Information Technology Services at Univen also gave a message of support to the audience. He advised them to always strive for the best. “Make sure that whatever you bring to this workshop will make an impact in someone’s life. Also have positive attitude towards all speakers who will be speaking during this workshop,” he said. He added by telling the audience to never undermine each other. “For every organization to succeed or achieve goals, cooperation is the key.” Chief Ratshitanga concluded by advising the audience to accumulate knowledge which will change their communities when they go back to their respective homes after the workshop.
The South African partnering universities include the Universities of Venda, Limpopo, Cape Peninsula University of Technology and Fort Hare. The participants have worked under four scopes namely the Short Term Programmes and Summer Schools, Internationalisation of the Curriculum, Mobility Toolkit and Project Writing and Management.
Collen Mangaka (Middle- in a scotch shirt) sharing his ideas about how to draft a Marketing strategy while two other participants from two other partnering universities are taking notes
Collen Mangaka, a student from the University of Limpopo thanked the organisers for a sterling job. He said he has learned a lot from this informative workshop.
“Everyone was participating to their level best and we were all sharing ideas,” he said.
Some of the participants from the partnering universities listening to the speakers
Mr Solomon Mathase (Left) and Mr Ntshauba performing traditional Tshivenda songs during the event
Participants of Impala workshop posing for a photo on the last day of the workshop
Issued by:
Department of Communications & Marketing
University of Venda
Tel: (015) 962 8525
Date: 29 September 2017
