The University of the Western Cape (UWC) hosted 560 delegates and 40 partner universities across South Africa and Sweden over five days of active and exciting engagements from 27 to 31 March 2023.
The dialogue was filled with buzzwords like “collaboration”, “engagement”, “innovation”, “mentorships”, “communication” and “equity”.
In the words of the Swedish ambassador Mr Håkan Juholt, the South African Sweden University Forum (SASUF) allows academics and students from both countries to share knowledge with each other. He added that “understanding our differences, our similarities and our weaknesses provides us an opportunity to work together to address it”.
The SASUF 2023 included key stakeholders, including students, researchers and academic leaders such as Vice-Chancellors and Deputy-Vice Chancellors. Prof Pamela Dube, who was UWC’s former DVC: Student Development and Support and is now the Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Technology (CUT), sang the praises of the collaborative effort between the two countries. She said it highlighted that “partnerships and intercultural engagements to address the wicked problems of society should be encouraged”.
Helin Backman Kartal, one of the SASUF co-ordinators, said it was exciting that the forum offered the opportunity to listen to and meet amazing people through the collaboration of research and also collectively work together to make the world a better place.
She reiterates the opening words of DVC: Research and Innovation, Prof José Frantz, that, “learning from each other and together is a key aspect of what happens at SASUF”.
Buy-in from the leadership of universities was key and Prof Terence van Zyl of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) said in the Vice-Chancellors summit panel discussions that “collaboration is often found in the challenges”. Others mentioned there was a need to understand our purpose and culture and that was what SASUF offered.
The student network summit also highlighted the need for equal partnerships to find common solutions and create sustainable, thriving and equal societies. It emphasised the importance of student involvement to ensure sustainability.
Prof Anders Hagfeld, in closing the SASUF Research and Innovation week at UWC, concluded: “We are facing a bigger challenge which is fast growing globally; academia has an essential role to play in democratic freedom and in finding solutions to global challenges. There is still a long walk to freedom, which we want to see and experience.
“This week we have built many new bridges and there are also some under construction. Bridges between students, researchers, management and even between universities within our own countries.”
Moving forward towards SASUF 2024, Prof Frantz reminded the delegates that “SASUF binds us together around one common purpose of contributing towards SDG 2030 and we need to continue to move together leaving no one behind.”
SASUF 2024 will be hosted by Lund University, Malmo University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences from 13-17 May 2024 across the three campuses in Sweden.
