inside Pg2 - Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor:Student Development & Support

EXCELLENCE

THROUGH SPORT

South Africa clinchesLondon OlympicGames ticket

Flic en Flac, Mauritius, April

15, 2012- South Africa

Men’s Beach Volleyball

t eam secu red the i r

qualification ticket to 2012

London Olympic Games

following their ground

breaking victory over Angola in the final of the CAVB Continental

Cup held here at Flic en Flac Beach in Mauritius on Sunday.

The African champions have become the first country in the world

to qualify to the prestigious event through the Continental Cup

which showed 39 African countries participating during the continental

phases of the FIVB Competition.

The first match of the final between South Africa and Angola, team

1 of RSA Freedom Chiya/Grant Goldschmidt took over Angola’s

Abreu/Silva. The South African pair from the University of the Western

Cape came out with a bang reaching the technical time out with

a score of 14-7. The injury of Abreu looked affected Angola. South

Africa took the first set 21-12.

At the start of the second set the crowd got scared when Chiya

went down with a groin injury. The medical timeout was all that this

team needed and quickly got back into the game. Angola was

unable to side out which led to their loss 21-11.

Angola came back in the second match to lead early. South Africa’s

Fredricks/Williams had some trouble and they didn’t let the game

get away with few defensive points. Eden and Marcio Sequiera went

through to win the first set 21-15.

The second set was neck to neck. Players are having a hard time

with the heat. Angola had to take an early medical team timeout

from the sun. Rallies continue to set the pace for the game, both

teams working hard to keep the ball off the sand. It was tied right

up to the end but Angola etched out on top. Making this a thrilling

finals and wining the second set 21-18.

South Africa continued their upper hand to win the match after a

great fight to win the match and grab the Olympic ticket.

UWC CRICKET HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES

It is quite possible that some of you are quite accustomed to hearing abouthow ‘good’ the UWC Cricket club is [especially after another fantastic season]but let’s try to put it into perspective.

Cricket is one of the ‘Big Three’ sporting codes in South Africa [with rugbyand football] and this undoubtedly means bigger budgets, more exposure,and definitely more competition and pressure. Many of the most talented anddriven athletes in our country are making tremendous efforts to achieve thehighest levels in cricket as the rewards are great. In Western Province we have64 active league playing clubs, playing in 18 leagues, from 1A down to 3E.The UWC 1st XI, for the second time in four years, has won the 1A leagueand 1-Day Championships [effectively the double] against this backdrop! Inaddition the 2nd and 3rd sides won their respective leagues. Very importantas they are the ‘feeder’ for our 1st XI in the future!

And in case you think that those top players are one-dimensional ‘jocks’, notethat a requirement of the club is that all the players must be passing in therelevant courses that they are studying. In fact the average marks of the UWCcricket players are above that of the university average! The players are strictlymonitored with regard to university studies, and receive assistance whenencountering difficulty in this regard and other areas that affect the well-being of the student. It has resulted in the team not only being successful onthe field, but a group that has become disciplined and focused on achievingan ideal balance to be successful in all endeavours undertaken.

UWC Cricket does not hold on to players after graduation, so we are proudto say as well that there are a number of a players that are currently playingfor other franchises around the country, including Rowan Richards for theTitans, and Gurshwin Rabie and Bevan Bennett for the Warriors. And thephysio for the Lions is also one of our products, Craig Govendor! Some ofour ex players, notably Victor Chaitezvi, are currently overseas having beingawarded academic scholarships for post-grad studies!

The accolades that the club is reveling in at the moment are no doubt theresults of hard work done over a long period of time, so we have to acknowledgeSports Skills for Life Skills, [who have appointed Head Coach Andy Moles,the ex New Zealand national coach], Sports Administration and all supportcoaching staff. So yes, the achievements are there, but there has been amassive amount of work done behind the scenes!

No doubt, this is one high-achieving club that whole the university community,including the alumni that put the building blocks in place, should be extremelyproud of!

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Pg3 - Sport Pg4 - ResidenceAdministration

Pg4 - Center for StudentSupport Services

Student Leadership Academy Celebrates MandelaDay

The Student Leadership Academy of the Centre for Student SupportServices joined in the campus- wide celebrations of Mandela Monthstarting with the Rector’s rousing speech on the 13 July urging usto THINK - ACT - INITIATE CHANGE.

On Mandela’s birthday on 18 July, members of the University of theWestern Cape visited the Kensington Old Aged Home, where theycleared and planted in the garden, spent time engaging with residents,provided hand massages and performed Karaoke songs! Studentsand various UWC departments worked together proving the magicof collaborative efforts.

On Friday the 22 July a delegation of student leaders from UWCattended a Mandela Day Leadership Symposium hosted by the VanZyl Slabbert Leadership Institute .

Later, on the Friday, Tonia Overmeyer facilitated a discussion at theSports is more than Sports, series where leadership themes areunpacked after the screening of a movie. In line with Mandela Month,the movie Invictus was screened.

On the 23 July, the Emerging and Advanced Leaders celebrated thecompletion of their 1st semester’s work and in line with the rector’scall, they considered the changes they were able to initiate this year.

Below: Students are eager to be snapped with Rector outsideKensington Old Aged Home

Women in Leadership visit UWC leaders

The Women in Leadership students from the Frederick Van Zyl SlabbertLeadership Institute at Stellenbosch University visited our LeadershipAcademy in September this year.

The purpose of the visit was to learn best practices from some of thedepartments and student structures at UWC. The Women in Leadershipstudents listened to presentations from the offices of InstitutionalAdvancement, Student Governance, and Residence and CateringServices. Students from Golden Key International Honours Society,PMP, SIFE, Konneckt8, the Sports Council and RAG also presentedtheir projects at the event.

The general observation of the event was a very positive feedbackfrom both the University of the Western Cape and StellenboschUniversity students. Students also commented that their generalobservation of the event “very informative”, and “something thatshould be done more often”.

PMP contributes to Student Development andSupport – even the Minister-President thinks so!

Verushka Daniels, Academic Support Coordinator of the CSSS, andmentors of the Peer Mentoring Program engaged with the FlemishMinister-President on the significant role that mentoring plays tosupport first years in their academic, personal and social adjustmentto academic life.

The mentors gave account of how the program has benefittedfrom the support and interest of VLIR, and provided a brief displayof how our PMP aligns its practices with UWC InstitutionalOperational Plan, and the charter of graduate attributes.

The speech delivered by the Minister-President made a call tostudents to embrace lifelong learning and to extend their ways ofthinking to the rest of Africa, and ultimately the rest of the world.

Find out more about our PMP by contacting us at the Centre forStudent Support Services or the Cassinga Office, call 021 – 9592299 or email us at lmallie@uwc.ac.za.

UWC PREPARES FOR THEYELLOW PAGES SUMMER SERIESATHLETIC TOURNAMENT:

Article by Edgar Nuwagaba

The yellow pages summer series track andfield tournament is a pre-season tournamentwhich Athletic South Africa a.k.a ASA inconjunction with yellow pages directorycreated in order to prepare athletes for thecoming seasonal athletic competitions. Theevent has been contested at every summerin December since the inception of its birthin 2009.

The yellow pages summer series traces itsearliest roots to odd athletic events such asthe 60m race, the 150m race, 300m,3000msteepchase, 600m and the 1m race,among other events. This competitioncomprises of track and field events includinglong jump, triple jump and the high jump.The competitions are held every Decembersummer festive season in Port Elizabeth inconjunction with Stellenbosch, Oudtshoornand usually ends in Parow.

As the pioneers of the yellow pages summerseries competitions, the University of theWestern Cape club is already lookingforward to build on recent athletes’performances and times in order to reachthe ultimate goal of achieving Olympicqualification standard. Athletic South Africatogether with the assistance of the hostingprovinces is in charge of organising thesummer series and is yet to announce thedates for the opening event.

Brent Stevens of UWC made the record inthe 2011 summer series when he won theMale athlete of the series. Brent dominatedthe 60m and the 150m race and he onlymissed the World indoor qualifiers by 4 splitseconds. Brent also formed part of the UWCrelay team that dominated in all meets.Brent was the face of the 2011 summerseries.

The yellow pages summer series representsan opportunity for athletes to stake a claimfor the yellow pages prize of about R200000 cash which is shared by athletes whopost-Olympic A standard qualifyingperformances during the yellow pagessponsored-events on the ASA summer seriesevents. Brent walked away as the prizewinner of the 2011 competitions.

Rodwel Ndlovu of UWC dominated the300m race. At the yellow pages summerseries, his relatively personal best improvedwhen he made a time of 33.87s and heformed part of the UWC relay team thatdominated in all meets.

Last year at the yellow pages, though itseemed rare for athletes to compete in anddominate both the track and field event,while comparisons were made to UWC andStellenbosch and though she had a sloppystart, Bernice of UWC got back into thegame and podiumed in the remaining meetsas she was the key athlete of the UWC relayteam. She is one of the fastest sprinters inthe 60m race.

In what could be described as the longestjump of the yellow pages competitions,Nicole broke the record when she podiumedin all summer series in both the long jumpand triple jump making a personal best of5,31 in the long jump. She thus formedpart of the women’s relay team.

Following the world student games andhaving had a brilliant season, StaceyGardener of UWC was remarkable and shewas earmarked as one of the favourites todominate the summer series but with thehamstring injury that he sustained inOudtshroorn, she had to watch theremainder of the series from the stand.Stacey is still off season due to the injury.

UWC athletes Jody Isaacs and Anrich Vissaboth coming out of injuries competedextremely well in last years summer series.

While Anrich placed third in the P.E 300mrace, Jody came second in the 600m. Bothformed the key athletes of the men’s relayteam. Anrich placed eighth in the 400m.UWC junior athlete Clyde Ruiters, dominatedthe summer series high jump when hepodiumed in all competitions in the highjump event with a height of 2.07m.

UWC surprise of the meet at the summerseries to set foot on track and field wasDuwayne Phillander when he finishedsecond in the 1500m. Duwayne continuedto turn heads after he claimed the thirdplace in the 800m and he further finishedthird place in the street mile.

International athletes from other countriesalso come to compete in the yellow pagessummer series. The event is televisednationally. The summer series also featureson super sport and at press conferences.

When contacted about what he feels aboutthe 2012 summer series, UWC athleticscoach Mr Jerome Walters responded, “Weare conditioning our athletes to raise thebar and defend last year’s record and arelooking forward to win all the events.”

University of the Western Cape athleticsclub forms part of the best eight athleticsclubs in the country.

UWC athletics manager and Coach MrJerome Walters and the UWC athletics clubexecutive under the guidance of ChairpersonMr Hadley Volkwyn, selected a team thatparticipated in the 2011 yellow pagessummer series.

For more information, Please contact MrJerome Walters

0731571755, jwalters@uwc.co.za

Mandela Rhodes Scholars 4th

annual conference – with hardwork we can do it!

The Community of Mandela Rhodes Scholars(CMRS) held their annual conference atStellenbosch University this year. BongekaJasoni, a member of our Advanced LeadersProgram at the Centre for Student SupportServices, shares her impression:

“The Mandela Rhodes Scholar Symposium washeld at Stellenbosch University. It was anopportunity for young people to engagearound global and universal transformation

through education. Mr Ravi Naidoo, gave aninspiring talk about how we can mobilizeourselves and stake holders in assisting withmeaningful causes that serve a purpose.

His talk was just to help us realise that theanswers that we seek we can derive fromwithin us once we have come to a realisation

that we can do all things through hard workand determination”.

Amanda Ndlovu, member of the EmergingLeaders Program at the CSSS, also reflectedon her attendance: “Participating in the

Mandela Rhodes event was a phenomenalexperience. It was lovely to be engaged withmy peers on important matters we face in thiscountry. I would definitely recommend thatnext year more students participate in thisevent as it was worth the trip and friends weremade!”

SRC AFFILIATES embrace theSTRATEGY PLANNING PROCESS

On the 03 March 2012, Leadership and Social

Responsibility, Centre for Student Support

Services (CSSS) together with the Student

Governance Office and the Student

Representative Council (SRC) hosted the first

training, The Strategy Planning Process, in a

series designed for SRC structure affiliates.

This Workshop Series is designed to facilitate

skills development and to build leadership

capacity within aff i l iate structures.

Some of the key areas that participants enjoyed

during the training were Goal Setting, Planning

and Implementation, the Executive Roles

Clarification, and Conducting Project

Debriefing. One participant commended the

workshop by commenting, “This training was

beneficial especially in the clarification of roles

and in explaining the constitution.” While

another participant’s statement was affirmative,

“great training, it was presented exceptionally

wel l and the presenters were very

knowledgeable about the topics and answered

all questions.” Winston Erasmus, the SRC

Affiliates Officer played a huge role in inputting

the design, facilitating a segment of the

programme and ensuring participation of

affiliate structures.

It is clear that the student leaders are

enthusiast ic about their leadership

development. One commented, “I am excited

about the amount of growth and change this

workshop has inspired,” Participants will need

to practise their learning within their

organisations and translate that into benefits

for their constituent communities. We have

great expectations in this regard, in light of

this participant’s comment: “I benefited from

the topics discussed and feel better prepared

to deal with students.”

This collaboration targets the UWC Graduate

Attribute which encourages our students to

become critical citizens and agents of social

good in the communities in which they serve.

The Leadership and Social Responsibility

Department is looking forward to working

together with our partners for the duration of

2012 academic year in shaping our student

leadership.

Leading the Way: Restorative Justice on Residence

“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between largeand small problems, for issues

concerning the treatment of people are all the same.” ALBERT EINSTEIN

RCS proudly launched the Standardsfor Community Living Documentwhich espouses the principles of Restorative Justice and sets out theprocess for dealing with transgressions on UWC residences using therestorative justice approach. Restorative justice is a problem solvingapproach which focusses on repairing the harm causes by thetransgression whilst giving the victim a voice in deciding how the harmshould be repaired. This approach requires both the victim and thetransgressor to be willing participants in the process and more importantlyfor the transgressor to acknowledge his or her guilt and be willing totake responsibility for his or her actions.

On a rainy Friday, 30st March 2012 the Rezlife office organised a publiclaunch at the Oval cricket ground. We were proud to have the DeputyVice Rector for Student Development and Support Professor LulluTshiwula in attendance. Her inspiring speech gave the students anoverview of the Restorative Justice Approach as well as the importanceof the Standards for Community Living Document. Stanley Henkemanfrom the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation was also invited as aguest speaker and we were honoured to have the attendance of CecilEsau at the event. The President of the SRC, Chrispin Phiri as well asthe Chairperson of the CHC, George Korope gave messages of support

for the implementation of the restorative justice approach on residences.We are proud to say that once again UWC leads the waytowards using innovative and creative ways of developingstudents, managing transgressions and ensuring that we getthe best from our students. As we transform UWC residencesinto l iv ing and learning communit ies we recognise theimportance of creating an enabling environment where HumanRights is respected and justice and fairness is valued andupheld. Written by Faeza Khan, Academic Support Coordinator,Reslife Office.

National Career Service Survey places UWC careereoffice and graduates at the top

In 2011, the South African Graduate Recruiters Association (SAGRA)conducted a national survey among their members of career servicesat higher education institutions. The respondents were drawn from theengineering-manufacturing, banking-finance, auditing, business-management, IT, law, retail and sales sectors. The aim of the surveywas to provide constructive feedback to the university career offices inorder to encourage conversations regarding their service delivery andfuture strategies.

Seventeen (40%) of the 42 surveyed companies actively targeted theUniversity of the Western Cape as part of their graduate recruitmentstrategy. The primary reasons for targeting our campus were that weoffer employers their target qualifications, have a richly diverse studentpopulation, our ideal location, the quality of our students and ourexcellent career services offer them value for money. Most employerswho targeted UWC made use of our three Career Xpos, advertised inour ‘Career Update’ magazine, did career presentations for studentsand are very satisfied with the range of career services. A glowingevaluation of our career services was made:

The support provided by our career service was rated as “excellent”or “above average”Employers were satisfied with the turnaround times for requests toour careers office.Employers reported that our career office is very proactive in

communicating its services.Our career office was reported as being flexible about unusual or“out of the box” requests from employers and do their best toaccommodate them.Employers have confidence that they can rely on our enthusiasticcareer service team for their marketing requests to students.Employers are very happy with our Career Xpos and companypresentations.Most employers are of the view that the relationship between thecareer service and students is excellent.Employers are very happy that the career services to students areuseful in preparing them for graduate recruitment.The majority of employers support the view that UWC career servicesare relevant in their strategy and approach.UWC students have a definite “strength” when it comes todemonstrating an appreciation of different cultures.

The overall feedback of the UWC career services is very good. Thereis a definite need for all tertiary students to be exposed to work readinessor employability training and/or workshops. On asking Nazrana Parker,Career Development Programme Coordinator, what motivates her inher work she replied “the feedback we receive from graduates whohave utilised our services and thereby are successful in joining graduatetrainee programmes at leading companies inspires me to continueseeking more avenues of employment for our graduates. The supportand resources provided by Centre for Student Support Services hascontributed towards ours successful Career Development Programme.”

SIFE kicks off 2012 on a high note

The SIFE UWC team at CSSS has been hard at work since the start of

the academic year. A number of exciting activities have taken place

including the development of 2 new projects. The first of which is the

IBIZ project which focuses on teaching entrepreneurial and financial

literacy skills to learners at various primary schools in the community.

In addition there is a project in partnership with Tehillah Community

Collaborative utilises the skills and resources of the organisation to

focus on the development of financial planning and commercial

gardening.

There has also been a rework of the highly successful Greening the

Bush initiative. As part of the reworked concept we have launched the

Love Your Planet campaign to raise awareness regarding

environmentalism and environmental issues. The Love Bins was sold

around Valentine’s Day to both students and departments at the

university. In addition to generating income for their projects, the team

developed their entrepreneurial skills through this endeavour. Members

of the executive team involved developed a marketing campaign for

the project, secured partnerships and sponsors for the campaign and

recruited volunteers to assist with the sale of the bins.

on 3 March 2012 was to provide a networking opportunity between

fellow SIFERS from different chapters as well as share best practice

methods for improved means of project delivery and implementation

in line with the SIFE focus on People, Planet and Profit. It was also an

opportunity for teams to train new members on the vision and purpose

of SIFE. Preparing for the training required the executive team to work

together with executive members of other regional SIFE chapters as

well as the National office, requiring a great deal of coordination and

planning. The feedback from the training was full of praise for the SIFE

UWC team.

UWC VOLLEYBALL CLUB NEWS

1. BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Two of the UWC Ladies Volleyball players were selected to representSouth africa at the Zone Vi Junior Beach Volleyball Competitionthat took place from 21 - 25 March in Swakopmund, Namibia.Prudence Layters and Bejancke Della; both pursuing a BA degree;did exceptionally well and manage to walk away with the goldmedals.

They are well on their way to qualify for the Junior WorldChampionship that will take place in Canada from 29 August to2 September.

UWC Alumni, Grant Goldschmidt is also well on his way to qualifyfor the London Olympics after him and partner Freedom Chiya hasmanaged to win all their qualifying rounds thus far.

2. INDOOR

The UWC Volleyball teams recently took part in the USSA Volleyballcompetition that took place from 1 - 5 April in Pretoria. UWC ladiessurprised everyone by winning the reigning champions VUT andtherefore becoming the new USSA Champions.The Men ended 6th.

Six of the ladies and two men were selected to represent SouthAfrica at the CUCSA Games that will take place in Namibia from16 - 20 July.