{"id":85854,"date":"2025-11-17T12:31:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/?p=85854"},"modified":"2025-11-17T12:37:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T10:37:45","slug":"advancing-spu-at-mace-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"85854\" class=\"elementor elementor-85854\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-53a194b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"53a194b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a5566a4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a5566a4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU)<\/span><\/a> Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement and communication. The DIA team brought home five awards at the prestigious <a href=\"https:\/\/mace.org.za\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">MACE<\/span><\/a> Excellence Awards Gala Dinner, themed \u201cEmbracing Diversity\u201d, that was held on 13 November 2025 in Johannesburg.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">MACE fulfils a leadership role in the university, TVET and private higher education sector within Southern Africa through high-quality development programmes, facilitating networking partnerships and transformation, and promoting best practices across member institutions.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 2025 Annual MACE conference and AGM under the theme \u201cThe Human Touch: Marketing, Advancement and Communication in the Era of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence (AI),\u201d officially began on Wednesday, 12 November, with a two-day programme that included plenary sessions, panel discussions and keynote addresses. Sessions explored topics such as maintaining brand authenticity amid AI-generated content, innovation in advertising, advances in AI in education, and breakaway sessions on protocols for events and PR, the future of websites, generative AI content and advancement in donor relations, all aimed at encouraging and reminding communicators and marketers that even in the midst of AI authenticity and the human touch is what matters most in communication.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Representing SPU were Acting Senior Officer: Communication and Marketing, Ms Tshepisho Sebeela; Officer: Communication and Marketing, Ms Feroza Nooroodien; Ms Ashlyn Kenny, Project Coordinator for the Centre for Professional Development; and Ms Vuyiswa Mpata, Administrative Assistant.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prior to the conference and AGM, the team attended the Young Blood Mentoring Workshop, a new addition to the MACE programme, that focused on empowering young professionals through discussions on redefining marketing in higher education, navigating opportunities and challenges, and understanding one\u2019s value in salary negotiations. The DIA team participated in 2 group projects which were both selected as winners, an impressive achievement for SPU.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">SPU received five awards, at the Excellence Awards Gala Dinner, across three divisions:<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Division 1: Campaigns<\/strong><br \/><strong><em>Bronze<\/em><\/strong><em> &#8211; Stakeholder Engagement Campaign:<\/em> \u201cChanging Lives, Enabling Brighter Futures: The SPU Youth Month Campaign\u201d<br \/><strong><em>Silver<\/em><\/strong><em> &#8211; Brand Building Campaign:<\/em> \u201cSPU Mascot Madness\u201d<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Division 2: Channels<\/strong><br \/><strong><em>Bronze<\/em><\/strong><em> &#8211; Audio, Visual and Audio-Visual:<\/em> \u201cBuilding Unity and Community through Facebook: The SPU Community Big Walk 2025\u201d<br \/><strong><em>Silver<\/em><\/strong><em> &#8211; Printed and Digital Annual Reports:<\/em> 2023 SPU Annual Report<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Division 3: Skills<\/strong><br \/><strong><em>Bronze<\/em><\/strong><em> &#8211; Design for Printed Channels:<\/em> Open Day Poster \u2013 \u201cChanging Lives and Enabling Brighter Futures\u201d<\/p><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">SPU warmly congratulates the Institutional Advancement team for their hard work, creativity and commitment to strengthening the University\u2019s brand, fostering community and contributing to a vibrant institutional culture.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement and communication. The DIA team brought home five awards at the prestigious MACE Excellence Awards Gala Dinner, themed \u201cEmbracing Diversity\u201d, that was held on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/\" class=\"read-more\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":85860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,4],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"coauthors":[188],"class_list":["post-85854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-releases","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sol Plaatje University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/solplaatjeuniv\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"964\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kealeboga Sibiya\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solplaatje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solplaatje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kealeboga Sibiya\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kealeboga Sibiya\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1\"},\"headline\":\"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Media releases\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1\"},\"description\":\"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":964},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/index.php\\\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sol Plaatje University\",\"description\":\"Light from Africa\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spu.ac.za\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1\",\"name\":\"Kealeboga Sibiya\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-ZA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=gec710141d2182ddc0c08c0ea520e1ab2\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kealeboga Sibiya\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University","description":"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University","og_description":"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/","og_site_name":"Sol Plaatje University","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/solplaatjeuniv","article_published_time":"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":964,"url":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kealeboga Sibiya","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@solplaatje","twitter_site":"@solplaatje","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kealeboga Sibiya","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"Kealeboga Sibiya","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/#\/schema\/person\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1"},"headline":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025","datePublished":"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg","articleSection":["Media releases","News"],"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/","name":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025 - Sol Plaatje University","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-17T10:31:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-17T10:37:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/#\/schema\/person\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1"},"description":"Sol Plaatje University\u2019s (SPU) Department of Institutional Advancement (DIA) was recognised for excellence in marketing, advancement..","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-ZA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MACE-Excellence-Awards.jpg","width":960,"height":964},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/advancing-spu-at-mace-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advancing SPU at MACE 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/","name":"Sol Plaatje University","description":"Light from Africa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-ZA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/#\/schema\/person\/846447d410edac6edd9448feb99d49e1","name":"Kealeboga Sibiya","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-ZA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=gec710141d2182ddc0c08c0ea520e1ab2","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50f93f62e86fe4f540ff4aab06ea08c02a3b0ada3b3132984b080f2ce11620e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kealeboga Sibiya"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85854"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85861,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85854\/revisions\/85861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85854"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=85854"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spu.ac.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=85854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}