Curriculum transformation Through UJ’s curricula and pedagogies, the ways in which UJ has risen to meet the challenges of contemporary higher education are realised. The increasing need to maximise the social impact value of education and to address the complex and interrelated challenges of the socio-economic context result in thoughtful and meaningful interventions, both in the classroom and outside of it, which work to ensure the contextual relevance of the University’s production and dissemination of knowledge. UJ’s ability to anticipate and meet the challenges which flow from the rapid and ongoing rate of developments in technology, and the need actively to transform the environment (whether social, economic, or environmental) have resulted in an increasing focus on decolonisation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Transformation, the cornerstone of the establishment of the CHE, requires “social equity, quality and fundamental institutional cultural and academic change.” Council on Higher Education, Quality Assurance Framework (2021) UJ does not only respond to the the pressures in South Africa. Internationalisation imbues many of its activities, enabling students and staff to collaborate across borders, both on the continent and beyond. UJ academics demonstrate innovative, creative, and scholarly responses to transformation which engage contemporary discourses, problematise conventional wisdom and push the boundaries both within and across disciplines. Each faculty interprets and engages with curriculum transformation in ways that give voice to the fundamental values and expression of their fields and disciplines. Faculties have found creative ways to integrate the three focus areas, resulting in interesting and diverse initiatives. For example, the drive to decolonise speaks to SDGs 4, 10 and 16; while the 4IR continues to offer the potential for solutions to achieve almost all of the SDGs with the inclusion, for example, of apps that form part of the teaching toolkit, the integration of simulation software and facilities into learning activities, and assessments which consciously and deliberately provide for the development of real-life skills and knowledge. The University engages actively with current debates, devising and deriving meaning in the higher education programmes it offers. Innovations are not limited to the development of new programmes and short learning programmes (SLPs) (of which there are many) but also into how existing curricula, learning programmes, and pedagogies can be finetuned to meet the needs of students and other stakeholders. Projects initiated in response to the events decolonisation calls of 2015, are expanded and enriched through their intersection with the SDGs and the 4IR. The sustainability of faculty activities and interventions, and the continuous and critical levels of self-reflection evidenced in the reports, augur well for all aspects of the academic project. Coupled with other initiatives, such as those in the DTE which develop and transform the academic staff, the active promotion of these activities by the DVC: Academic, Professor Sehaam Khan means that UJ academics make tangible contributions to rich debates which prevail. As important sub-issues in the realisation of the SDGs, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and related issues affecting women are at the heart of several of the activities at the University. For example, the continued focus on the development of women in STEM; extensions in the offering of African languages; additional multi -and interdisciplinary programmes; and refinements to existing programmes enact the University’s fitness of and fitness for purpose. Notable in this respect is the Audit Report’s acknowledgement of the UJ staff’s committment to a shared vision of the value of higher education, the specific value of the UJ ‘learning to be philosophy,’ and the palpable nature of its commitment to social justice. 2023 ANNUAL REPORT DIVISION FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE 75
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