The Rhodes University Board of Governors has endorsed the creation of the Sandisa Imbewu (‘we are growing/multiplying our seeds’) Fund to fund strategic new academic initiatives. R12.5 million has been pledged over the next five years for strategic new academic initiatives.
The Board of Governors’ endorsement follows a Rhodes Council decision to accept a motivation and recommendation by Dr Saleem Badat, the Vice-Chancellor, to establish the Sandisa Imbewu Fund.
Judged in terms of key performance indicators, Rhodes University is one of South Africa’s and Africa’s outstanding universities.
It provides a high quality education and experience to students who come from diverse social and national backgrounds. It is a very special and distinctive university, one that deservedly commands an enviable academic reputation.
The University enjoys the distinction of having the best undergraduate pass rates and graduation rates in South Africa, outstanding postgraduate success rates and is among the highest per capita research outputs of any South African university.
Rhodes, however, operates in an increasingly competitive environment, especially vis a vis other South African universities that are loosely termed ‘research universities’.
According Dr Badat, “Rhodes does not receive the level of public subsidies that other ‘research’ universities tend to enjoy, due to its small size and academic programme offerings. Moreover, compared to other ‘research’ universities Rhodes has extremely modest free and earmarked reserves, and its operational income from these reserves is modest.”
“The annual University budget is constructed carefully on a zero-deficit basis and is prudently managed. It is ‘goal-oriented’ in that great attention is given to ensuring that the core purposes of the University are appropriately supported,” says Dr Badat.
“A key impediment is that important new strategic initiatives related to identified new goals and priorities cannot always be effectively pursued because of financial constraints.”
The Sandisa Imbewu Fund will provide the University seed funding to effectively pursue new strategic initiatives of an academic nature.
Furthermore, the Fund will aim to facilitate:
- The consolidation and enhancement of current areas of academic excellence at Rhodes
- Ventures into new academic and research areas, especially at the postgraduate level, and
- The timeous exploitation of new opportunities that can enhance research and knowledge production and the quality of graduates produced.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Budget Committee will manage the Sandisa Imbewu Fund and be guided in the making of grants by the University’s Institutional Development Plan and the decisions of the Institutional Planning Committee and, ultimately, the Senate of the University.
The Sandisa Imbewu Fund will report annually to the University Council and the Board of Governors.