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Professor Tawana Kupe, the new Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, paid a visit to the university’s Hillcrest campus on Tuesday to talk to students and staff and ensure that the ongoing registration process is running smoothly. UP’s online registration process started on 3 January for senior students and 9 January for first-years. By Monday 15 January, approximately 4 800 first-year students and 14 700 senior students had registered, with the numbers set to rise as the registration process continues until the end of the month.

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The University of Pretoria’s (UP) newly appointed Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Tawana Kupe, officially stepped into his new role on Monday, saying, “It is an honour and privilege to take over the reins at this proud institution at such a key moment in South African and global history.” Prof. Kupe’s appointment was announced in November by the UP Council, the university’s highest decision-making body, following the resignation of former Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof. Cheryl de la Rey, who is set to head the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

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The University of Pretoria was proud to host 2016 Chemistry Nobel laureate Sir Fraser Stoddart recently, when he spoke at UP’s Future Africa campus. In his lecture, Sir Fraser said that, to be successful as academics, teachers should prioritise their students’ needs and put them ahead of their own. Furthermore, they should support their students through thick and thin.

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“For as long as I can remember, when growing up I was the kid in the playground that would organise everyone together to make sure no one was left out. I was a class rep in high school, the youngest-ever Head Boy in that school. I was Head Boy in Grade 8 because they used a system where you were chosen based on character, and not necessarily your grades.” This quote says a lot about David Kabwa, the University of Pretoria’s newly installed Student Representative Council (SRC) President. Kabwa – who made history when he became the first second-year student elected UP SRC President last year – overcame the hurdle of running as an independent candidate. Taking on well-funded organisations linked to prominent political parties could intimidate anybody, but Kabwa isn’t someone who backs down easily. He credits his mother and father for his go-getter attitude.

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Zanele Mahlangu (23), a Chemical Engineering graduate from the University of Pretoria, is the only South African chosen as a Schwarzman Scholar to pursue a one-year master’s degree in China in 2020.

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Learning isn’t a spectator sport. Students need to make what they learn a part of their everyday lives, and tutorials are an excellent way to achieve this at tertiary level. When properly designed, tutorials can be spaces where students, who are grouped in smaller numbers, can be guided to make sense of the work, practise their skills, cultivate critical thinking and learn from and with one another. Tutorials were initially used in numeric subjects and were practice sessions to work out problems. They’re now part of many more disciplines, and formats vary – in a language subject, for example, a tutorial could entail speech practice. At Cambridge and Oxford universities, they are fundamental to the teaching method. This is also where it all started, in the 15th century.

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With the rapid advances in genetics and genomics technology, and the many benefits that come with it, South Africa needs to develop policies, regulations and guidelines to address the implications of genetics and genomics work.

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After nine years at the helm, University of Pretoria Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Cheryl de la Rey will be leaving the university at the end of December 2018. Often described as a visionary, she helped steer UP to greater heights during her tenure. Ahead of her departure for New Zealand, where she has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury, Prof. De la Rey sat down with UP Publications Specialist Tebogo Menong to talk about her time at UP, and also shared her thoughts about the higher education sector, as well as what drives her.

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Agricultural sectors across Africa need their own green revolution building on local knowledge and culture, as well as a green disruption building on new digital and other technology. This was the call made by Professor Louise Fresco, President of the Netherlands’ Wageningen University and Research, during a special lecture at the University of Pretoria titled “Does Africa need a Green Revolution?”

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A delegation from China’s Nanjing Audit University met recently with representatives of the University of Pretoria to discuss extending the institutions’ exchange agreement, which has been in place for eight years.

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A panel discussion held at the University of Pretoria earlier this year debated the $25 billion (R356 billion) turnover flowing into for-profit publishers of academic research. After a very vibrant and interactive discussion, all participants and delegates agreed that the universal open access model is preferable to the traditional subscriptions model. Combined with open data, it would make science more efficient, accessible and affordable for all.

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Prof. Cheryl de la Rey, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, was honoured with a Science Diplomacy Award during the Department of Science and Technology’s fourth Science Forum South Africa, held from 12 to 14 December in Pretoria.

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A delegation from the University of Exeter met recently with senior academics from the University of Pretoria (UP) to discuss areas of collaboration in inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary fields.

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The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) has announced that Prof. Robert Millar, Director of the Centre for Neuroendocrinology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria, is one of two prize-winners in Medical Sciences for 2019 .

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The University of Pretoria’s Ruvimbo Samanga, a final-year LLB student and BA Law cum laude graduate, recently became a member of the Women in Aerospace Africa Committee, and that of the Austria-based Space Generation Advisory Council.

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It’s nearly time to say a big WELCOME! to all new University of Pretoria (UP) first-year students – you are about to begin one of the most memorable and significant journeys of your life! We know that the start of your time at university is exciting not only for you, but also for your parents and family.

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Two University of Pretoria (UP) academics have received prestigious A-1 ratings by the National Research Foundation (NRF) for 2018, bringing the number of UP scientists rated in the A category to 14.

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Dr Eddie Michel, a research fellow in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria, was recently awarded three prestigious research grants from presidential foundations in the United States. Dr Michel will use the grants – from the Gerald R Ford, Harry S Truman and Lyndon B Johnson foundations – to expand the source base for his research project entitled “The Whites are there to stay! The United States and apartheid South Africa, 1948-1994”.

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Two internationally renowned researchers from the University of Pretoria (UP), Prof Mike Wingfield and Prof Bernard Slippers, have been included on the 2018 Web of Science’s list of the world’s most highly cited researchers.

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A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Animal Feed Manufacturers Association of South Africa (AFMA) to the value of R50 million for the establishment of a feed mill research facility was officially signed on 11 December 2018.

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