Prof Tinyiko Maluleke - address at F’SATI Alumni Dinner
Amongst all the institutions of society, there is none more special than universities. We may get married in majestic mosques, magnificent cathedrals and in awe-inspiring village shrines; but it is often at university where we find the boyfriends and the girlfriends who we later transform into partners and spouses.
Indeed, anybody can become a member of the local gooi-gooi or stokvel; everybody can become a member of the nightly patrol of the local police forum; anybody can jay walk and gate crush into a live church service; any and everybody can sign up for the coffin insurance of their local funeral parlour to secure a coffin for themselves on the day they die; but only a select few will meet the lofty requirements and the stringent criteria for admission into university.
Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, addressing the audience during the recent F’SATI Alumni Dinner.
I have sympathy for those who hanker after the type of universities that admits left right and centre – the tsenang-botlhe-sebaka-se-sale-teng (come one come all) type of university – the so-called non-elitist university which also dishes out degrees, diplomas and certificates like confetti.
To those who dream of such universities, I can only say, dream on. In this country and everywhere else in the world, universities are spaces and places reserved and set aside for the talented and the academically eligible. If that is elitism, then so be it! Universities are rightfully and proudly elitist, by design and by intent.
In the whole wide world, there is no such thing as an ag-shame-bathong university student who gets admitted to university because someone felt pity or sorrow for them. Students can only get in if they are academically eligible – that is the priority and only requirement. Once they pass that muster, we can talk about financial neediness and related.
And yet, it is one thing to be admitted into university, it is quite another to consistently perform excellently for the duration of one’s chosen programme until graduation. That is the responsibility of students.
On the other hand, universities have the enormous responsibility of ensuring that the good brains of our students do not go to waste; by offering top research training as well as many opportunities for advancement.
This is where such valuable partnerships as the French South African Institute of Technology comes into play. More than sheer grant and bursary leveraging, our partnership with F’SATI is a model for a country-to-country partnership geared towards the provision of world class education for students in both countries. Ever since it was established in the mid1990s, F’SATI has provided study abroad opportunities to dozens of postgraduate students in France as well South Africa.
I started my brief talk by suggesting that universities are pretty special, but most students who have had opportunities to study abroad will tell you how special those opportunities have been in their academic journey. The role of the organisations such as F’SATI in the facilitation of such student and staff exchange cannot be underestimated. Indeed, since its launch in 1998, this postgraduate centre has produced more than a hundred postgraduate students in engineering and related fields. F’SATI has afforded more than a hundreds of postgraduate students from both countries opportunities to work with top researchers and scientists from both countries. It has also given students access to world-class facilities and laboratories in both countries.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the 27-year long F’SATI partnership is the calibre of partners that have been part of it. From the very beginning, the Paris Chamber of Commerce has been part of it. Add to these, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the National Research Foundation, the French Embassy in South Africa, Malawi and Lesotho, Schneider and several French Partner Universities University Gustave Eiffel, UPEC and UVSQ, amongst others.
Over its lifetime, F’SATI has contributed to the graduations of 147 Collaborative Master’s, 140 Master’s, of which nine were staff members, as well as 48 Doctorates and 27 Joint Doctorates of which 13 were TUT staff members. In total more than 1 500 research outputs and nine patents, were produced out of this partnership. Clearly, F’SATI has been one of the most impactful partnerships in South African higher education, most certainly at TUT.
At the end of his speech on occasion of welcoming President Jaques Chirac to South Africa on 26 June 1998, President Nelson Mandela shouted: Vive L'amitié Sud-Africaine et Française! I add my own shout out: Vive la coopération Académique entre l’Université de Technologie de Tshwane et L’EFSATI!
A number of the guests attending the F'SATI Gala Dinner.