RECOGNISING lecturers who have made significant contributions to teaching and learning, the University of Zululand (Unizulu) on Friday held its inaugural Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards in Richards Bay.
Dr Neil Evans and Dr Maria Mabusela were the evening’s biggest winners, each claiming first prizes in their respective fields and walking away with substantial cash prizes.
Dr Evans, Acting Head of Department for Information Studies, walked away with first prize in the Emerging Academic category, while Dr Mabusela, a senior lecturer in the Department of
Curriculum and Instructional Studies, was the winner in the Developed Academic category.
Of the R50 000 prize money each received, R45 000 will be used for research purposes.
The funds have been allocated to a research account linked to a scholarship for teaching and learning.
Other award recipients included Dr Berrington Ntombela from the university’s Department of English and Dr Mike Reddy from the Department of Communication Science.
Both were runners-up in the Developed Academic category.
A first for the university, the awards were held to honour, recognise and reward academic excellence and will lead to representation at the prestigious Council on Higher Education (CHE) and Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association (HELTASA) Teaching and Learning Excellence Awards.
Speaking at the event, HELTASA award recipient, Dr PK Ramdeyal, stressed the awards’ importance and said they are not an opportunity to give away money made available by the teaching development grant.
‘The mechanisms and criteria developed by both our institutions and national organisations such as CHE and HELTASA have been well thought out and deliberately designed to ensure the prescript of reflection becomes entrenched in higher education’.
Ramdeyal also said self reflection leads to teaching and learning improvement.
Unizulu Vice Chancellor, Professor Xoliswa Mtose, said, ‘Through these awards we seek to recognise and reward deserving academics who have demonstrated impeccable accomplishments in teaching and learning at our university.’
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