Unisa online - Strategic Tshwane partnership forged

Professor Barney Pityana (right), signs the MoU between the Tshwane Metro Council, UNISA and the HSRC, as Tshwane executive mayor, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa and Professor Shadrack Gutto, director of UNISA's Centre for African Renaissance Studies, look on Image source: Pretoria News

The City of Tshwane, UNISA, and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), have reached agreement to work together in a number of areas. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, the Vice-Chancellor of UNISA, Professor Barney Pityana, and the CEO of the HSRC, Dr Olive Shisana, on 21 July 2008.

Speaking at the MoU signing, Dr Ramokgopa said the agreement was important for the development of the capital city. “The city regards higher education and research institutions within its boundaries as strategic partners whose expertise in different areas are of immense importance for the development of the city.”

As a higher education institution, UNISA will assist the city mainly in the area of research and development. In the area of economic intelligence and research, the School of Economic Sciences – one of the best schools in this field – will be collaborating on developing key indicators for the city to track social and economic trends against its City 2020 Development Plan, Spatial Development Plan, City Grown and Development Strategy, the Safer City Strategy, the Human Development Strategy, and the Poverty Reduction and Community Development Plan Indicators.

Sunnyside student hub initiatives

Other areas include service satisfaction levels within the city, and trends in black business ownership. The Institute for Social and Health Sciences has already presented research studies on the specialist area of intentional and unintentional injury-related fatalities in the city. Also as part of the partnership, UNISA will be looking at projects aimed at developing Sunnyside into a student hub, meaning there will be more access to study facilities and the streets will be made safer.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Barney Pityana, said signing the MoU was an exciting moment for UNISA as it was aimed at nurturing the skills of young people. "The agreement represents the pride we take as UNISA and we have an obligation that the work and development we undertake must be part of the spatial development framework of the city," he said. As a way forward, the three institutions will develop business plans on how to implement the MoU. The parties hope to complete this by the end of August 2008.

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