From Left: Prof Mathews Nindi, Dr Jan Mentz, Prof Titus Msagati and Prof Lukas Snyman

Prof Lukas Snyman and Prof Titus Msagati for receiving the “The Chairperson of Council Awards for Excellence”, at the official academic opening ceremony for 2020, that took place on Friday, 14 February. These awards have been instituted in honour of the serving Chairperson of Council of Unisa. The awards are granted to give recognition for the excellent performance, accomplishments and achievements of members of staff. The criteria for nominations are based on excellent overall job performance.

When one of the winners was asked for comment, the excited Professor Lukas Snyman said: “It is surely a great honour for me to receive this award. It serves as a token of my dedication to UNISA over the past six years. It serves as recognition for the dissertations completed, articles published, patents generated, internal and external funding secured and external awards bestowed on me, and also the various contributions I made to academic citizenship. Glory to God for these achievements! I would like to sincerely thank you all for your colleagueship and support over these years. Thanks especially to all the support staff, who have assisted me in various ways over the years. Where there is a positive spirit and visionary leadership, there is always progress.”

At the same event, two colleagues from CSET (Dr Jan Mentz, from the School of Computing, and Professor Linda Jewel, Department of Civil and Chemical Engineering) were also presented with the UMUC Certificate in Technology in Distance Learning and e-Learning. The certificate programme, offered by the University of Maryland College in the USA, exposes the student to (i) authentic online educational experiences, (ii) best practices and (iii) keeping track of current trends in ODeL. It is a full-time, challenging and intensive online programme, rich in learning activities involving interactions with seminal works, pioneers and active researchers in ODeL. The first cohort of colleagues received their certificates in 2014 and this is the sixth cohort of students to earn this qualification.

The College Executive Dean, Professor Bhekie Mamba, congratulated all the winners and the recipients of the certificates, affirming their achievements with these words: “These awards were given in recognition of excellence in Research & Innovation and in Teaching & Learning. This definitely underpins the commitment of CSET in cultivating a high level of academic stature and scholarship among staff at the College, which is for the benefit of our students and the good reputation of UNISA. We are very much alive to the fact that such recognition is preceded by hard work and sacrifice, which should typify a CSET academic. These colleagues have set a good example that other academics should aspire to emulate.”

In his congratulatory message, Unisa Chairperson of Council, Mr Sakhi Simelane, alluded to the fact that the awards were about celebrating and encouraging excellence and to rededicating ourselves to serving the Institution. "We must excel in every space where we are positioned” he said, "even during all the challenges the University faces."