Thank you for the warm welcome which I received upon taking-up my position as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Sol Plaatje University. I look forward to working with you on realising our aspirations for this university.

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the previous Vice Chancellor and Principal, Professor Yunus Ballim and his team, for the sterling work they did to bring the university to this stage in its development.

The next phase is set to be just as exciting, characterised by fast growth in student numbers, new programmes and infrastructure. This brings its own challenges which I will approach collectively with the university community at large.

For now, many of our normal operations have been slowed down or stopped completely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The anxiety around the COVID-19 pandemic has made our working conditions very difficult, but it is also presenting us with opportunities to rethink our priorities and to fast track certain things we were planning for the future. 

I appreciate that many of you are operating in challenging circumstances to ensure that we continue to keep the University operational. Thank you for your continued efforts in this regard.

I am working closely with the Senior Management Team to prepare some form of online/blended delivery to students on the resumption of the second term. 

This is supposed to occur on 20 April 2020 but is subject to change pending further developments around the national attempts to manage the impact of the pandemic.

Our staff are actively involved in training programmes which will give them the tools to take on different modes of delivery, if necessary in the coming months.

The expectation would be to establish a new norm which will guide the university in its future interactions with students and other stakeholders.

I thank you for your commitment and perseverance.

I will keep you all abreast of developments as they arise and I will communicate further around plans for the future, but for now the actions precipitated by the current crisis needs our urgent attention. 

I urge everyone to stay safely indoors and adhere to the national directives.

Kind regards

Professor Andrew Crouch