Events
UJ’s influential alumni COCKTAIL DINNER
The ambience The evening began with a lavish spread of colourful cocktails and sushi platters, then moved into the Chinua Achebe Auditorium for dinner, speeches and a live music performance by the UJ Choir. The evening was themed on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is at the forefront of UJ’s planning strategy as a leading university on the African continent. The keynote Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, Vice- Chancellor and Principal, delivered the keynote speech. “My vision is to position UJ in the Fourth Industrial Revolution within the context of changes happening in the African continent”, he said, adding that South Africa’s fate was inextricably intertwined with that of the rest of Africa, and as such, UJ’s thinking had to embrace the continent as a
Influential alumni of the University of Johannesburg gathered for a cocktail dinner event on the Kingsway Campus Library on 1 March 2018, to enjoy an evening of insights, entertainment, and opportunities to network. In attendance was the Vice- Chancellor, Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, as well as some of UJ’s most esteemed academics and staff, including Deputy VC, Prof Angina Parekh, Prof Sehaam Kahn, recently appointed Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, UJ’s Chief Operating Officer, Professor Andre Swart, UJ Registrar, Prof Kinta Burger, Prof Saurabh Sinha, Deputy VC: Research and Internationalisation, Dr Nolitha Vukuza, Senior Executive Director in the VC’s Office, and CFO, Nolwazi Mamorare.
whole. “The median age of people in Africa is 18. This places a huge burden on us. How are we going to educate our people?”, he asked. He described the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a “confluence of technologies in the digital space”, which had huge implications for the world of work in the future. “We need to produce graduates who will not just survive, but thrive in these environments, irrespective of how complex they are, and our curriculums will adapt accordingly”, said Prof Marwala, adding that as the BA in PPE (politics, philosophy and economics) created great leaders in the past, so a BA in PET (politics, economics and technology) would create leaders of the future. New courses will be introduced at UJ this year, he said, “to create leaders in a world moving rapidly into automation”.
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ALUMNI IMPUMELELO
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