Official Academic Opening 2019 opens the eyes of new students to hope and fortune
Official Academic Opening 2019 opens the eyes of new students to hope and fortune
Professor Gordon Zide, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal addressing staff and students during the Academic Opening 2019
Londiwe Dube
The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) held its official academic opening on Friday, 8 February.
Prof Roy Dhurup: Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Resources and Planning, welcomed the attendees and said that: ‘’It is in the hands of the students to take full responsibility for their academic programmes and time management is vital to their studies.”
The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Gordon Zide declared the 2019 academic year with a theme ‘’the audacity and tenacity of unshakable hope’’. He said it is the year for students to be extremely persistent in reaching for their dreams “through the amazing grace of unshakable hope, the University can achieve and overcome the difficulties that it is currently facing.”
“Time is a mirror of hope. Time determines one’s actions and time keeps us going on and on and time wasted cannot be recovered. I pity those who use the time at their disposal for unproductive actions – quite clearly they do not have the Unshakable Hope for a better VUT,’’ he continued.
He further stated that as VUT is a student-centered institution, they will continue to work together with the student leaders and the Student Representative Council (SRC) in order to find solutions to a number of challenges confronting the University. Students were also encouraged to engage with the values of the institution which are honesty, integrity, mutual respect, collegiality and trust.
In closing, he said: “Longevity is the sustenance of hope and hope is the by-product of our dreams; our dreams are the anchors of our subconscious mind and our subconscious thinking gives us an urge to drive those processes which are at the apex of our desires and wishes, hence, the audacity and the tenacity of the unshakable hope.”
It was a gentle reminder to students who have recently started pursuing their careers at VUT that they are the fortunate ones; the University received about 25 000 applications but only 5000 first year students were granted access to study towards their desired careers. This privilege should not be wasted.
