Prof Robert Balfour, UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

When people ask me what a gift to the University of the Western Cape achieves, I think first of our first-year students. This year, our First Year Transition Programme supported 1,041 students. Of these, 832 are the first in their families to attend university. Their families have placed great hopes in their education. For some, whether they graduate can depend on factors that have little to do with ability, such as an unpaid fee balance or the cost of housing. Their experiences show why financial support is so important. Access to university means little if a student cannot afford to continue and succeed. UWC has among the lowest fees in the country because access is central to who we are. With public funding under strain, there is a gap between what many of our students can afford and what the University requires to fulfil its academic mission.

This is where our partners make a difference.

Between 2021 and 2025, trusts, companies, foundations, SETAs and individual donors entrusted UWC with R138.8 million. Nearly two-thirds of it went to bursaries. This year, donor support has paid fees and provided assistive devices for students with disabilities. The Feed the Need campaign continues to sustain our student food bank. The UWC Foundation's Board of Trustees has funded dedicated support for Honours and postgraduate diploma students. I take encouragement from our alumni. The number of graduates giving to the University rose from 434 last year to 508 this year, and five alumni chapters are now active. The significance lies less in the amounts than in the conviction behind them: that what UWC made possible for one generation should be within reach of the next.

Image: Supplied

We think of UWC as a partner for the public good, and our strongest relationships are those in which supporters work alongside us. Samsung's digital skills programme welcomed its sixth cohort this year. An agreement with Sanlam and 104 Plus is enabling our Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to support small enterprises. With sponsorship from Germany's development agency, GIZ, and in partnership with the CSIR and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), a UWC team produced the country's first national assessment of artificial intelligence maturity. In each case, a partner arrived with resources and a problem; UWC contributed its scholarship and longstanding relationship with surrounding communities, and both gained something neither could have produced alone.

This is the model I want to build on. By 2040, UWC aims to be widely recognised as a leading research university. We want to be known for our focus on the public good and for productive partnerships in Africa and globally. Philanthropic support has rightly concentrated on getting students in and seeing them through. Student bursaries and food security are ongoing priorities. Research and endowment have attracted far less, as has infrastructure, including the digital learning platforms and modern teaching spaces our students need. It is here that the next phase of the partnership could change what the University can do. A bursary carries one student to graduation. An endowed fellowship or research chair supports scholars for decades.

I wish to thank everyone who has invested in UWC. We regard stewardship as an institutional ethic and every gift is managed with the care that it deserves. However, there is more that we can do together. I invite our alumni, partners and friends to work with us to widen access, strengthen our research and build the capacity that will serve generations of students to come. If you share our belief in what this University can make possible, I invite you to be part of its next chapter.

Prof Robert J. Balfour
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of the Western Cape