The Central University of Technology (CUT) and German institution Aalen University of Applied Science marked the 20th anniversary of their partnership with three-day celebrations in Bloemfontein and Welkom.
The first day of the celebrations detailed the milestones reached by the two institutions in areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation and research.
CUT’s acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alfred Ngowi, delivered the opening address and Aalen University President, Professor Harald Riegel, gave a reply speech live from Germany.
Ngowi described the partnership as CUT’s “most productive co-operation programme”. Among the achievements of the long-standing agreement, he mentioned the VALU-E entrepreneurial board game that’s being used to teach learners, university students, members of the community and SMMEs the fundamentals of business.
The two universities have also collaborated on the Vredefort Dome Project and have produced numerous books, conference presentations and contributions to academic journals.
“The partnership has enabled CUT and Aalen to better understand the culture of South Africa and Germany, thereby responsibly internationalising the mindset of students and staff,” remarked Ngowi. Later at the gala dinner, he told guests the collaboration between the two institutions should be used as a yardstick for other agreements. “This has been a very successful collaboration,” he stated, reminding the audience that the tradition often times was to sign agreements and lock them away, with no record of results. “This one has been different. There are activities, which you can show. There are products, which you can show. And we believe that all our collaborations will learn something from this particular one,” he concluded.
Professor Riegel, affirmed that CUT remains central to his institution’s internationalisation efforts. “Aalen University has more than 130 partner universities worldwide. Only a few of the partnerships are older than the one with the CUT. More importantly, hardly any other partnership has developed so dynamically, and is so diverse and full of life as the one with the CUT.”
The future of the partnership is certain, with both parties satisfied with how the past two decades have panned out, which also saw them earn a UNESCO project of the decade recognition.
In the next years, CUT and Aalen will explore projects in artificial intelligence to assist farmers manage the impact of climate change, entrepreneurship and employability to fight off SA’s rising unemployment levels.
“Any partnership must create a value. The value must be of good effect for the universities and also for the external environment. A partnership on paper is no partnership, a partnership is only a partnership on the basis of what you experienced today – multiple role players,” Professor Laetus Lategan told the ceremony.
Lategan was standing in for Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research Innovation and Engagement, Professor Samson Mashele. Lategan focused on the partnership’s research education project, emphasising the need for universities to think beyond their traditional functions of research, teaching and engagement, and start embracing innovation and entrepreneurship.
The second leg of the celebrations was held on CUT’s Welkom campus. Campus manager, Gloria Pule, hailed the CUT-Aalen partnership as a platform for the holistic development of students and staff. “The collaboration between the two universities enabled students and staff members in better understanding the different cultural dimension between South Africa and Germany. And that the purpose was not only to complete the academic responsibilities but embracing each other’s cultural diversity,” she said.
The 20th anniversary commemoration also coincided with the retirement of one of the partnership’s founding visionaries, Prof Uli Holzbaur.
President Riegel honoured him for, among others, launching the cooperation, publishing books together with CUT scholars and supervising exchange students and PhD candidates.
Ngowi also praised Prof Holzbaur for grooming a successor who will take the partnership to the next level. This, he said, set a continuity and succession example for other leaders.
