Unisa unveiled its new science campus at the beginning of August to coincide with the start of National Science Week. Situated in Florida, Johannesburg, the campus is intended to grow research capacity and support research in the fields of science, engineering and technology, and in the agricultural and environmental sciences.
The new campus was built at a cost of roughly R1 billion, most of which came from the university’s own coffers, with the department of higher education and training providing a portion. It houses state-of-the-art facilities for the teaching of science as Unisa aims to position itself as a key role-player in South Africa’s push to overcome its skills shortage in the fields of science, engineering and technology.
Prof. Mandla Makhanya, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said that Unisa is dedicated to advancing knowledge production by and for Africans. “The cutting-edge facilities will provide the space for staff and students to grow and develop – to match theory and practice and to translate theory into practice,” he said.
In his keynote address, minister of science and technology, Derek Hanekom, commended Unisa for 140 years of commitment to supporting and improving not just the practice of science and technology in South Africa, but South Africa’s continued innovation thrust.
Hanekom applauded the passion required to make the new campus a reality. “What is so gratifying about today, for me, is to see that this Unisa Science Campus is such passion made visible,” he said. “The buildings have been constructed on green principles. The design and technology that has gone into them is innovation at its practical and sustainable best.”
He said passion was fundamental to the sciences because without passion – in teachers and students, and in the sector as a whole – there will be no acceptable return on the resources and effort being ploughed in. “The problem is, of course, that you can’t teach passion. But you can create the environment in which it can blossom … If South Africans see and do science and technology as a necessity rather than revelling in it for its own sake, we’re not going to blaze trails as a country. We’ll be technicians, not leaders. We’ll be consumers of other people’s innovation rather than creating and dominating markets of our own.”
Hanekom also addressed the importance of bridging the gap between science and society, and said the campus points to the potential for a curriculum to be developed for the effective communication of science. The absence of such dedicated programmes, he said, would not benefit South Africa and the country would be left with a weak science awareness and engagement programme.
“Our scientists generally lack the skills to interact with journalists and use the media as an effective avenue to keep communities abreast of scientific and technological developments. Journalists too, require training to research and write science stories better … I would like to see that mature and innate understanding of communication captured and distilled into a formal science communication curriculum – or science and society studies – to equip future scientists and technologists to market and communicate the value of their work.”
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