With gratitude, UP salutes and waves goodbye to Prof Norman Duncan, Vice-Principal: Academic as he retires from his notable Academic and Psychology career. Prof Duncan never shied away from an adventure or dwelt too long within a comfort zone. He stepped into multiple roles and pursued challenges with humility and conviction. He worked to serve students and staff and improve their chances of success.

His educational journey laid a firm foundation for his career. He completed his undergraduate studies in Psychology at the University of Western Cape (UWC) where his performance was exceptional enough to be noticed by the Head of Department who approached him to work in the Department as a senior lab assistant and tutor. Following a successful undergraduate journey, he completed his Master’s Degree in France and returned to the Western Cape to complete his PhD, which he describes as “one of the most seminal achievements” of his career.

After working at UWC, he decided it was time for change and travelled the length of South Africa to begin work at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). It is here where felt he was beginning to make a difference in the lives of students and academics. He spent five years deep-diving into research that significantly contributed to the national landscape of psychology. After his tenure at  UNIVEN he was appointed to the Institute for Social and Health Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His next career step was at the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) as Professor, Head of Department and Head of the School of Human and Community Development. It was during his eight-year tenure at WITS that he was able to start some of his most significant research projects which involved multiple local and international academic institutions. His final stop before UP was the role of President at the Psychological Society of South Africa.

Carrying a wealth of knowledge and experience, Prof Duncan joined the UP family in 2012. His first role was in the tallest building on campus, the Humanities faculty, as Dean, which he thoroughly enjoyed and found to be stimulating and exciting. A vacancy later opened up in the executive wing of the University. He applied and became the Vice-Principal: Academic, a role that gave him a platform to collaborate with other UP colleagues to pioneer transformative campaigns for students.

The first of these was the FLY@UP campaign which he spearheaded together with the Department for Education Innovation. “I had identified very early on in the position of Vice Principal: Academic that quite a number of our students who enrol at university do not complete their studies or they do not complete them in the minimum time. Their studies were at great expense to themselves and their families. Very frequently, poor students who took too long, had to abandon their studies,” he explains.

The campaign has two messages: first, that it is essential and possible for students to complete their studies within record time and second, that students need to take responsibility for their studies. “They should know that they are the architects of their success,” he states, “ The university has to provide the support that students need in order to be successful but at the end of the journey they should take full ownership of their own success.” UP has been internationally recognised for this innovative campaign and Prof Duncan will be travelling to the USA to receive an award on behalf of the University.

The second campaign introduced hybrid learning to UP by encouraging the use of the Learning Management System, not only as a portal to load content, but to teach. The introduction was in 2015, with a slow and hesitant up-take, however, many saw the overwhelming benefits of the approach at the height of the #FeesMustFall movement and during the national lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Lastly, Prof Duncan has been instrumental in redefining the meaning of student success through the Ready-for-Work Campaign. Prof Duncan elaborates: “Student success at UP means success at university and success beyond university.”

Prof Duncan has certainly been a catalyst for meaningful impact at UP and beyond.  We wish him well in all his future endeavours. He believes that UP is entering an extremely exciting period, and says, “I'm sure that there is much that is exciting and progressive that will unfold in the years to come at UP because we’ve really got a unique complement of staff. We have a cohort of truly innovative lecturers who are sufficiently bold to use current and future student-centred technological opportunities to enrich the student learning experience so as to enhance student success.”