Principal's statement to Senate

Abstract

In short, we want to create an environment where scholarship may thrive and where intellectual life may prosper. What we do not need at this university are those among us who see this university as a convenient fall-back assurance system for their future while they pursue other interests; have only a marginal interest in their students and have not published for many years. We shall identify them and encourage them to take a package and go, hopefully amicably. We have realised that this system has obtained at Unisa for many years with impunity, largely because it was allowed to. That means that managers have shied away from managing adequately, the people and resources under their care. It also means that for far too long Unisa has abdicated its responsibilities to the unions and to the congenitally disgruntled minority who have successfully held this university to ransom. That cannot be allowed to continue. We have a right and a duty to demand professional conduct, to hold each other accountable and to uphold the finest traditions of academic life.