[Message from the Honorable Minister of Education, Prof. Kader Asmal]: I am pleased to provide a message for this important Guide to South African Universities and Technikons so soon after my appointment as Minister of Education. Each country depends on the higher education system to meet high human resource needs and to be the engine for the creation of new knowledge and innovation, and critical discourse. Our system offers students a wide choice of career options in a variety of differing environments of a world-class standard. Our universities and technikons play a vital role in preparing students, by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills, to take up their rightful place in society and to contribute to the socio-economic development of our country and the many other countries from which students come to study in South Africa. This also affords them the opportunity of making a substantial contribution to the development of human resources in their specialised fields. Like schools, our universities, technikons and other third level institutions must become vibrant centres of community and cultural life. We are looking at the ways in which universities can contribute to the responsibility of citizenship - within an atmosphere of voluntary help. This may be in the form of community service, which many institutions are already involved in, or, for instance, in the form of assisting with a national literacy campaign. In addition they must provide a safe and secure environment conducive to promoting their mission of teaching and learning, scholarship and research, and community service. Proper preparation for the challenges of a fast globalising world is essential if our students are to contribute to the development of the societies and the countries in which they live. Therefore I am committed to building a responsive higher education system of high quality. Such a system should demonstrate its readiness to meet the challenges of the 20st Century.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:rhodes/vital:28753 |
Date | January 2001 |
Creators | International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA), Mason, Andy |
Publisher | International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) |
Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text, book |
Format | 80 pages, electronic, application/pdf |
Rights | No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from IEASA. Permission to use material contained in the university profiles must be obtained directly from the institutions concerned. The information in this publication was compiled from a variety of sources, and opinions expressed should not necessarily be taken to represent those of IEASA or HESA., International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA) |
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