Ms Nicole Morris, the newly appointed Dean of Student Affairs at Sol Plaatje University (SPU), was elected to serve on the University Sport Company (USC) Board of Directors for a three-year term alongside six other members from various universities in South Africa.
The USC’s role in Higher Education is to enhance various sporting activities through the development and coordination of High-Performance Sport offered by Member Universities, as envisaged in the Competition Media Rights Agreement in consultation with the University Sport South Africa (USSA).
Their aim is to unlock and create value through the commercialisation of Varsity Sports Tournaments. Though sport, at SPU is in its infancy phase, Ms Morris is confident that her role on this board will assist in driving high-performance sport at the University. She believes that it is important to improve and prioritize sport offerings at the University and especially how these are differentiated in terms of recreation and high performance in positioning the University as being inclusive and diverse, whilst catering uniquely to individual talents. The Student Affairs Division currently offers a full psyhco-social suite to help nurture students and to help them excel. This platform will provide opportunities to expand on this and to compliment the sport element.
Reflecting on the recent Tokyo Olympic games, Ms Morris believes that as a country, we need to consider and review the importance of sport and how it is being positioned across the sector in respect to the development, transformation and promotion of sport as a catalyst for invoking national pride. She advocated that all universities across the sector should take full advantage of the development opportunities available and that there should be no distinction made between the Top 5 Universities or historically previously advantaged universities in benefitting from high-performance sport – there should be equity for all 26 institutions.
SPU’s seat on the board holds significant value in terms of the wealth of expertise that comes from members on this forum. It is a strategic opportunity that will enable the SPU team to develop high performance sport and to advance its recreational sport and development. Ms Morris explains that this will be a good financial return not only for the University and the city but also for the community and the progression of sport across the Northern Cape region.
She added that this platform comes at an optimum time as the SPU Vice-Chancellor’s Talent Pipeline Project (which will be launched in October 2021), seeks to attract students from rural and peri-urban schools across the province. It is therefore imperative for the University to improve and prioritize its sport offerings as part of its student recruitment strategy.
Ms Morris is excited about her appointment on the USC board and looks forward to working alongside experienced members such as former Springbok Captain, Francois Pienaar and key Vice-Chancellors in their collective effort to bring about meaningful change in sport by developing high-performance sport in the country and ensuring its promotion and sustainability across the sector.
