“VUT Vice-Chancellor Prof Khehla Ndlovu addressed the 20 Nov 2025 Stakeholder Appreciation Breakfast, highlighting the university’s renewal, progress, and partnerships”
25 November 2025 | Story by: Qhawekazi Memani | Picture: Keitumetse Mokgope
5 minutes read time.
“Today, we gather not merely to share a meal, but to share purpose.” With these resonant words, the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Khehla Ndlovu, opened his keynote address at the Stakeholder Appreciation Breakfast held on 20 November 2025 at Three Rivers Lodge and Villa in Vereeniging.
The annual gathering brought together government officials, industry leaders, civil society partners, organised labour, sister institutions and members of the VUT community for a morning dedicated to reflection, appreciation and shared vision.
Prof Ndlovu began by revisiting VUT’s origins, tracing its journey from a modest institution with 189 students in 1966 to the dynamic University of Technology it has become. He reminded guests that VUT’s growth has always been intertwined with the hopes of communities in the Vaal region, who saw education as a path to dignity and opportunity. While acknowledging past governance setbacks that cast what he termed “a blanket of shame” over the institution, he emphasised that these challenges did not define VUT. Instead, the university rose above them, reorganised itself and recommitted to academic excellence and societal relevance.
He then turned to the present, highlighting the comprehensive renewal underway across governance, academic systems, research structures and institutional culture. Over the past 18 months, VUT has worked steadily to restore stability, rebuild trust and strengthen operational foundations. Improved communication, clearer institutional policies and sustained engagement with internal stakeholders have reduced disruptions, enabling teaching, learning and administration to thrive in a more stable environment.
Prof Ndlovu also emphasised the strengthened leadership now anchoring VUT’s direction, pointing to the appointment of three Deputy Vice-Chancellors who lead key portfolios in Teaching and Learning, Research and Innovation, and Resources and Operations. Their collective leadership, he noted, forms the backbone of Strategy 2033+, ensuring institutional alignment and accountability.
On academic renewal, he highlighted the ongoing review of the Programme Qualification Mix to align with future-focused industries. VUT is prioritising programmes in fields such as data science, robotics, renewable energy, smart manufacturing and cybersecurity. A VUT qualification, he said, must reflect “relevance, rigour and readiness for a digitally intensive world.”
He celebrated the growing strength of research and innovation at VUT, noting the university’s nine centres of excellence and its 14 NRF-rated researchers. He outlined ambitions to expand postgraduate enrolments, increase doctoral qualifications among staff, grow patent and prototype output, and deepen industry collaborations to ensure research translates into tangible societal benefit.
Prof Ndlovu highlighted the university’s expanding partnerships across Africa, Europe and Asia. He noted the milestone of sending VUT’s first student to the prestigious Abe Bailey Programme in the United Kingdom and emphasised ongoing collaborations with the Indian Institutes of Technology to strengthen doctoral training capacity.
Turning to infrastructure, he detailed progress on the new Infrastructure Masterplan, which charts a bold future for both the Vanderbijlpark Main Campus and the Science and Technology Park in Sebokeng. The plan includes modernised laboratories, smart classrooms, expanded library facilities and a renewed focus on addressing student accommodation shortages. He described the vision as “dreaming in concrete, designing in steel and building with purpose.”
He also highlighted a strengthened financial sustainability plan that underpins Strategy 2033+, reaffirming the university’s commitment to responsible resource utilisation alongside active efforts to attract new funding from donors, partners, research contracts and innovation-led ventures.
Central to his address was the theme of partnership. Prof Ndlovu described stakeholders as essential to VUT’s progress, noting that government departments, SETAs, municipalities, NGOs, industry partners, unions and alumni each hold a vital piece of the university’s future. Stakeholders, he said, are not external observers but extensions of the institution itself, its “real-world laboratory” and partners in curriculum development, community-engaged research, work-integrated learning and service delivery innovation.
Looking to the future, he reaffirmed Strategy 2033+ as VUT’s blueprint for building a modern, digitally advanced, socially responsive and globally connected university. He emphasised commitments to future-aligned academic programmes, expanded research capacity, modernised infrastructure, strengthened student life and wellness, global partnerships and long-term financial stability. These, he said, are not aspirations but active programmes grounded in measurable progress.
In calling for shared responsibility, Prof Ndlovu reminded guests that no university rises alone. It rises because its partners refuse to let it fall, because communities recognise education as the bridge between adversity and opportunity, and because stakeholders
stand firm in moments of crisis and progress alike. He pledged that VUT will continue to be a dependable, transparent and innovative partner worthy of trust.
He closed by inviting guests to imagine VUT in 2033: a campus alive with innovation, diverse in its global reach and producing graduates who create new industries rather than simply entering existing ones. He envisioned a university that powers the regional economy through research and uplifts communities through partnership.
“Let us build it with conviction. Let us build it with courage. Let us build it with the unshakeable belief that education remains the most powerful instrument of progress,” he said, ending with a heartfelt offering in Setswana, isiZulu and English: “Ke a leboga. Ngiyabonga. Thank you.”