Change the world

Furthering Quality Education is a very strong focus at Mandela University and is addressed through areas of engagement at several levels such as:

  • Reimagining Schools in Our Communities – The Faculty of Education’s Centre for Community Schools (CCS) continued work with under-served schools and communities to develop alternative approaches to school improvement that are relevant and responsive to contextual realities such as the Covid-19 pandemic and its implications and consequences. Over the past ten years, the CCS has been deeply engaged in understanding the key elements of a contextually responsive education system, and has been collaborating with a number of schools in the greater Nelson Mandela Bay and rural Eastern Cape to reconceptualise themselves as “community schools”. The community school is a school that is deeply part of its community in a community that is deeply part of the school. It is a space that is ‘of’ the community rather than ‘in’ the community. This approach to schooling requires engaging with schools, teachers, parents, community members, NGOs, CBOs, government departments and universities, to co-create solutions to current and future schooling challenges.
  • The Govan Mbeki Maths Development Centre who implement a range of mathematics and science development and support projects for learners in townships and rural schools in the Eastern Cape and nationally.
  • The TouchTutor® programme, which allowed more than 700 selected learners from schools across the province to benefit from access to university studies.
  • The Centre for Community Technologies has developed and implemented various groundbreaking apps and web-based solutions for the benefit of disadvantaged communities, such as: electronic health records for use by community healthcare workers; digitised adult primary healthcare guidelines; a mental health app; and the Ncediso app, which allows for the early detection of various disabilities and diseases.
  • Revitalisation of the Humanities – Nelson Mandela University recognises the critical role of the humanities, and – in keeping with its pledge to “change the world” – fosters a humanising pedagogy in learning, teaching and research, towards developing a socially, politically and environmentally conscious society. By revitalising the arts, humanities and social sciences, the university is advancing its efforts in building social cohesion and democratic citizenship among its students – regardless of their research or programme choice. We’re encouraging transdisciplinary research, the promotion of indigenous knowledge systems and sharing of new knowledge paradigms, as these foster the depth of thinking and understanding required to deal critically and creatively with pressing local and global challenges. In today’s ever-changing world of work, and with the realities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) upon us, the arts, humanities and social sciences are integral to progress.
  • Research partnerships have been forged across Africa and the globe that address the SDGs and allow students and faculty members to learn from collaborative partnerships with leading universities around the world.

Although focused on education, these initiatives support, and serve to realise a number of the SDGs such as reduced inequalities, partnerships and innovation. This holistic and multi-pronged approach means that MANDELA UNIVERSITY is embedding the SDGs into the very framework of all that we do.