VUT celebrates Africa Day in May 2017

Vaal University of Technology (VUT) celebrates Africa Day annually as part of its social inclusion and cohesion calendar. The activities on this day aim to embrace diversity, raise awareness, affirm and deepen continental identity while promoting nation-building.

Now, the month of May has been declared Africa Month and an organising committee has identified activities to celebrate throughout the month.

Activities that need the support of the VUT community to ensure meaningful participation will be held under the theme: "Convergence of social justice and African languages within public universities".

The events are planned to run every week during the month on what will be called Africa Fridays. The various events, ranging in focus from youth to academic, will culminate in the Africa Day festivities on 25 May. Esteemed keynote speakers have been invited to form part of this historic celebration.

The Chairperson of the organising committee and Director for VUT Social Justice and Transformation, George Mvalo, says: "Like many of the 26 public universities in the country, the Vaal University of Technology staff and student populations are diverse in terms of race, gender, class, language and nationality. VUT currently has international students from over 30 African countries as part of the more than 17 500 registered students. This also is in fulfilment of the SADC protocol on education where each public university is expected to accommodate at least 10% of students from the SADC region.

"This event also contributes to the Vaal University of Technology's mission to be a university that leads in innovative knowledge and quality technology education. It particularly refers to our commitment to developing a programme and qualification mix that meets the needs of society in Africa and beyond," he continued.

VUT takes pride in its contribution to the human development of the African continent. Through its four faculties: Engineering and Technology, Applied and Computer Sciences, Management Sciences and Human Sciences, students have the choice to study programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As one of the six Universities of Technology, VUT is eminently placed to make a contribution to scarce and critical areas as contained in the National Development Plan.

Africa Day celebrates the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was established in Addis Ababa in 1963. The OAU was replaced by the African Union.

Africa Day is one of the significant events that universities around the country celebrate annually. It is required for institutions of higher learning to submit quarterly reports to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) on institutional activities relating to significant events on the national calendar of events such as Human Rights Day, Youth Day, Madiba Day, Women's Day, Heritage Day and World Aids Day.