{"id":18000,"date":"2025-01-23T14:17:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T14:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/?p=18000"},"modified":"2025-07-31T08:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:45:45","slug":"visiting-professor-in-the-department-of-marketing-retail-business-sport-management-sparks-vision-for-research-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/visiting-professor-in-the-department-of-marketing-retail-business-sport-management-sparks-vision-for-research-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Professor in the Department of Marketing, Retail Business & Sport Management sparks vision for research growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Visiting professors inspire research growth at VUT Marketing Department with seminars, collaboration talks, and a writing retreat to boost academic excellence.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 23 January 2025 | Story: Tayron Mhlongo. Photo: Peter Masela<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

1 minute read time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visiting<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Marketing, Retail Business, and Sport Management under the Faculty of Management Sciences at Vaal University of Technology (VUT) started the year with zeal and energy. On 15 January 2025, they hosted a dynamic seminar to set the stage for a productive academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event featured distinguished visiting professors from Australia: Professor Felix Mavondo, a renowned Marketing scholar from Monash University, and Professor Siva Muthaly, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Management at Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU\/APIIT). Their presence inspired the department with insights and enthusiasm for the year ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both professors shared their extensive experience in teaching, mentoring, and supervising, emphasising the university\u2019s role as a hub for knowledge sharing. They outlined VUT\u2019s mission of blending academic values with practical business knowledge, highlighting how each discipline contributes to the broader educational landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also underscored the importance of building relationships with fellow students, encouraging open expression of ideas and recognising achievements. Prof Muthaly concluded his presentation with a memorable metaphor, comparing lecturers and supervisors to \u2018golden retrievers\u2019 \u2014 mentors who guide students to shape their futures and navigate career paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Mavondo\u2019s discussions with Mr Vido Kungune, Acting Director of Internationalisation, sparked hopes of strengthening ties between Monash University and VUT. Prof Mavondo remarked, \u201cCollaboration between institutions is key to solving today\u2019s global challenges. Monash University and VUT have a unique opportunity to bridge knowledge and practice, paving the way for transformative education and research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof Nobukhosi Dlodlo, Head of Department, expressed excitement about the benefits of focused postgraduate supervision, envisioning a new wave of scholars advancing to the professoriate. \u201cWe are eager to see the tangible outcomes of dedicated scholarly mentorship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his closing remarks, Prof Chengedzai Mafini, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, urged staff to embrace learning opportunities provided by visiting academics from sister institutions. \u201cColleagues, we are a learning faculty, and we learn from experts,\u201d he noted, encouraging participation in such sessions for career and academic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seminar culminated in a writing retreat held from 16 to 17 January 2025 at Kloofzicht Lodge in Krugersdorp. It brought together VUT\u2019s Marketing staff, academics from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the visiting professors, who facilitated pivotal discussions and workshops to enhance academic excellence.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Visiting professors inspire research growth at VUT Marketing Department with seminars, collaboration talks, and a writing retreat to boost academic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-vaal-university-of-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26142,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18000\/revisions\/26142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/nso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}