The University of the Western Cape is a national university, alert to its African and international context as it strives to be a place of quality, a place to grow. It is committed to excellence in teaching, learning and research, to nurturing the cultural diversity of South Africa, and to responding in critical and creative ways to the needs of a society in transition.
Drawing on its proud experience in the liberation struggle, the university is aware of a distinctive academic role in helping build an equitable and dynamic society. In particular it aims to: advance and protect the independence of the academic enterprise.
Design curricular and research programmes appropriate to its southern African context.
Further global perspectives among its staff and students, thereby strengthening intellectual life and contributing to South Africa’s reintegration in the world community.
Assist educationally disadvantaged students gain access to higher education and succeed in their studies.
Nurture and use the abilities of all in the university community.
Develop effective structures and conventions of governance, which are democratic, transparent and accountable.
Seek racial and gender equality and contribute to helping the historically marginalised participate fully in the life of the nation.
Encourage and provide opportunities for lifelong learning through programmes and courses.
Help conserve and explore the environmental and cultural resources of the southern African region, and to encourage a wide awareness of these resources in the community.
Co-operate fully with other stakeholders to develop an excellent, and therefore transformed, higher education system.
Rivonia trialist Denis Goldberg speaking at a gala event in 2011 to honour the surviving members of the Rivonia Trial.
Photo by Foto24/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Goldberg was the youngest Rivonia triallist. Segregated prisons meant he was sent to Pretoria, while his fellow accused were incarcerated on Robben Island.
Many South African schools don’t have computer labs or other digital technology.
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COVID-19 has shown that technology is no longer a luxury but an important component of the education process. In presenting solutions, a wide range of factors must be considered.
Genomic sequencing can help in understanding viruses.
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The variation captured in these genomes, when compared to genomes sampled elsewhere, provides a fingerprint that might be associated with a particular virus and a particular cluster of transmission.
The nutritional shocks on young children whose families have lost their income as a result of the lockdown may have long lasting effects.
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A third of South African children live below the food poverty line. The fact that many caregivers can’t work because of the lockdown will worsen food insecurity. Here’s what needs to be done.
With a mix of online resources and creativity, you can keep your kids learning and entertained.
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Be prepared to learn along with your kids, take a break when you need to – and have fun.
Stray cows rest on a New Delhi street during a one-day civil curfew to combat coronavirus. Cattle may have been central to a coronavirus outbreak in 1890.
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No other photographer in southern Africa has documented war in the way that John Liebenberg did. He captured the life and the conflict of both sides in his body of work.
The health and rights of children and adolescents, particularly the most marginalised and vulnerable, are under immediate threat from climate change, corporate actors and growing inequities.
The Nxaxo Estuary in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
Dr Jacqueline Raw
Informal retailers that dot South Africa’s townships have changed dramatically, but at great cost - avoidance of regulation and exploitation of employees.
No South African photographer leaves a more substantial legacy than Santu Mofokeng. He was adept at mapping interior worlds through haunting images of black life and, above all, his landscapes.
Passengers on a tram in China wear surgical masks to guard against viral infection.
Willie Siau/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Two coronaviruses were identified in the 1960s, and five since SARS in 2003. It is the seventh that is now making headlines.
A human skull on display in Berlin in 2018. Germany handed back human remains seized during the Namibia genocide from 1904 to 1908.
EPA-EFE/Hayoung Jeon
Behaviours such as head banging, picking at the lips and chewing on harmful objects like stones make children with autism more likely to have dental health problems.
Cyril Ramaphosa is president of South Africa as well as president of the governing African National Congress. The party has scuppered coalition building at local government level.
EPA/Yeshiel Panchia