College of Agriculture, Engineering

1
CollegeofAgriculture,Engineering Science

• Status Report
• for
• Council of the University
• 2 October 2009
• Pete Zacharias
• Deputy Vice-Chancellor and
• Head of College

2
Framework for presentation

• structure
• basic facts
• main achievements
• serving the UKZN strategic plan
• challenges
• priorities for Councils assistance
• supported by presentation pack

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Basic facts

• staff
• gt1400 permanent, contract temporary
• 4 A, 24 B, 55 C, 1 P (only 2 in the country) and
  13 Y rated scientists
• 4 SARCHI Chairs
• location
• three campuses and two cities
• one research farm and several field sites
• physical infrastructure
• 21 large buildings
• gtR400M in equipment
• 4 affiliated private institutes

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Structure
gt37 research and teaching entities not listed
9 specialist support units
5 schools 1 centre
10 schools 1 centre
5 specialist workshops in schools
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Distribution of academic staff
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Financials

• budget about R261M
• R226M staffing
• R22M operating
• R13M CAPEX (2008-2009)
• research grants annually exceed R200M
• DoE special grants 2007 to 2009 gtR124M
• contribute 34 to total UKZN
• income but receive only 17
• of distribution

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Main achievements

• several SADC Centres of Excellence
• Food Security
• Water
• Community Participation, Appropriate Technology
  Indigenous Knowledge
• Rural Telecommunications
• lead the University on research and postgraduate
  output
• 38 MSc and PhD from 2004 to 2008
• 47 of top 30 researchers from 2004 to 2007 who
  produced 54 of the TOP30 output!
• significant contribution to University structures
  and processes
• realistic staff equity profile in the context of
  scarce skills
• Black African 30, Coloured 3, Indian 38,
  White 29
• reasonable student equity profile Black African
  59, Coloured 3, Indian 28, White 10
• about 65 of staff have doctoral qualifications
  excluding 10 support
• we have 26 of Africa's 54 countries represented
  in our postgraduate cohort

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Serving the UKZN strategic plan

• College plan follows Universitys plan
• have aligned our mission and vision to that of
  the University
• we are active in all seven Goals
• lead the University in many areas of teaching,
  research community engagement

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Serious challenges

• Student performance
• Resources for staff

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Student performance

• declining student performance over several years
• National Senior Certificate is essentially
  unknown
• performance in 2009 is a worry
• student participation in academic support
  programmes is poor

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Pass rates in 1st year modules
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Correlation between NSC marks and UKZN marks
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Student use of Academic Support

• non-attendance at lectures and tutorials ranges
  from 24 to 40 in first year in Chemistry not
  atypical
• rates of participation in academic support is
  lt30 in both Faculties

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What are we doing about it?

• academic development
• Academic Support and Advancement Programme (ASAP
  Engineering)
• Throughput In Engineering and Science (TIES
  Science Agriculture)
• academic monitoring and support
• track students progress and intervene when
  necessary
• academic personal counselling (with our SCCC
  NMMU)
• College teaching enhancement workshops
• beginning to mainstream academic support
• exclusions reduced to c. 5 and drop out to c. 8

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Resources for staff

• HR budget covers 60 and 84 of establishment
  cost for Engineering and Science Agriculture
  in 2009
• Engineering has 53 posts with funds committed
  and Science and Agriculture 74
• we rely heavily on temporary staff
• 45 26 of offers are refused
• for Eng and SA respectively
• lt50 of posts are filled at highest
• level

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Distribution of employment type
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What are we doing about it?

• have offered long sabbaticals in Engineering
• HOSs encourage people to apply
• have exploited LEAP ( 50 of all LEAP)
• finding ways to teach smarter to save time
• reviewing curricula
• but
• are heavily dependent on DoE grant
• will campaign for a review of the RAM to align
  with National Imperatives
• have reviewed all programmes to cut out redundant
  modules this may impact income

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Potential to modify College Allocations from RAM
1. Current
2. Inclusion of fractional graduates
3. Inclusion of Eng, Comp Sci Maths at grid 4
4. Applying funding grid to teaching outputs
Option 4 an increase of c. R37M in 2009 terms
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Priorities for Councils assistance

• provide introductions to potential sources of
  unencumbered endowments
• review practices i.t.o. subventions and devolve
  this to Colleges
• help campaign for the AIAS building and make your
  contribution please!
• come and visit us and appreciate
• what is going on

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Supported by presentation pack

• College brochure
• note all illustrations produced by the staff
  of the College
• 60th Anniversary brochure for Agriculture
• DVD for the College
• DVD for the Centre for Science Access
• school and programme details
• status report of planning processes in the
  College, October 2009
• this presentation

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The story of the presentation pack

• a CEAD community project called Inina
• 30 rural womens turnover of R10 000 in 2002
• in 2008 they turned over R1.5M with 149 women
  benefiting
• Inina donates R50 000 to Aids outreach
• CEAD (UKZN) received awards from
• International Partnership Network
• Carl Emily Fuchs Foundation
• Unitech

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Thank you

• data and inputs from
• Miss Moira Bolton
• Ms Vicky Crookes
• Dr Murray Low
• Dr Colin Southway
• Mr Glen Barnes DMI
• Mr Duncan Hay
• Research Office
• Mrs Shereen Balkisson

Agriculture, Engineering Science