Prof Tinyiko Maluleke – Vice-Chancellor and Principal of TUT
As we welcome both our returning and first-year students at the beginning of the TUT 2024 Academic Year, the winds of history are blowing across all TUT campuses, and great anticipation is in the air. This is the 20th Academic Year in the history of the Tshwane University of Technology.
Eight years into our democracy, Government Gazette number 23549 Volume 444 of 21 June 2002, included an important announcement which said: “The three Technikons in the Tshwane metropole, namely, Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and Technikon Pretoria, should be merged”. On the 1st of January 2004, the idea became a reality when the new institution, the Tshwane University of Technology, the People’s University, opened its doors, for the first time.
Twenty glorious years later, we are excited not merely to issue the usual and ordinary welcome, which we routinely make at the beginning of each academic year, instead; we invite all our students to come and make history with us, twenty glorious years later.
To the first-year and the first-time entering students especially, we wish to say, welcome aboard the train that is moving from good to great. You would not have landed on the TUT Campus if you were not feisty and ambitious enough.
All along the winding road that have taken you to the point at which you stand at the gates of the TUT campus, you have conquered many academic, social and economic obstacles. In a way, the obstacles you overcame constitute the unofficial and natural psychometric test of life, to determine your suitability for the academic programmes of the Tshwane University of Technology. That is how we know that you are not here merely because you are lucky; and you are not here by mistake.
The TUT formula for success is simple and straight forward. Focus. At all times, even in the face of the many distractions that will come, we urge you stay focused, focused on the academic project you came here to pursue. Stay focused on the dream that propelled you to TUT. From one day to the next, work towards the attainment of your academic dream. Don’t miss a day and don’t lose a day. The TUT formula for success is a compelling one. Work all week. Keep working towards the attainment of your academic dream, one week at a time. Do not let a single week go unaccounted for. Do not let a month go to waste. The TUT formula for success is a tried and tested one. Turn each semester into a critical milestone towards the attainment of your qualification. Make every semester count. Above all, use your time at TUT to make positive history for yourself, your family and your country.
The excellent staff members of the Tshwane University of Technology are here to help you succeed in your academic journey. At TUT, we are especially awake to the changing world of work. To this end we work closely with industry, both in the development of curricula and in ensuring that work integrated learning become the norm across our offerings. This way, TUT graduates are enabled to take the job market by the scruff of the neck.
On behalf of the Chancellor of the Tshwane University of Technology, Dr Gloria Tomatoe Serobe, the Chairperson of the TUT Council, Advocate Ivan Ka-Mbonani, and on behalf of the TUT Council, staff and students, I say, come, let us make history together!
Welcome to the 2024 Academic Year!