UFS Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane, entrusted
by the South African Association of Senior Student Affairs
Professionals with the position of Secretary General to assist
in facilitating strategic leadership among student affairs
professionals to benefit students in higher education.
Photo: UFS photo archive
At the end of 2019, the South African Association of Senior Student Affairs Professionals (SAASSAP) – purposed to provide strategic leadership to student affairs professionals, build capacity, and share knowledge for the benefit of students in higher education, in accordance with national imperatives and global trends – elected the UFS Dean of Student Affairs, Pura Mgolombane, as Secretary General of SAASSAP.
Opportunity for productive interface between role players
“The core significance of SAASSAP is to create healthy relationships, balance, and opportunities for productive and strategic interfaces between vice-chancellors of institutions of higher education and training, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), South African Student Union (SAUS), student representative councils (SRCs), student organisations, student associations, all organised student life and governance, student bodies, and other student affairs professionals and their professional bodies nationally and internationally,” says Mgolombane.
He further explained that the expected outcome of these strategic interfaces is to stimulate student well-being and academic success.
“As a member of the SAASSAP NEC for the current term, it is my duty to assist the sub-sector to confront the marginalisation of the student affairs profession, which often positions student affairs practitioners against the wrath of the student bodies, and in the process, further diverts attention from the root causes and inefficacies that lead to student protests. In the final analysis, students get criminalised and suffer mental-health illnesses, whereas student affairs professionals, on the other hand, end up with a multitude of sicknesses, including susceptibility to mental-health illnesses.
Improving student well-being
Mgolombane went on to explain that SAASSAP intends to contextualise such challenges in order to ensure that – in determining solutions – student experiences in institutions of higher education and training are humanised, their well-being is improved, and that they are well supported to excel in their studies. He believes that SAASSAP’s first priority is to establish a generic student affairs framework in order to create uniformity in the subsector.
When asked how his new position as SG would impact his role as UFS Dean of Student Affairs, Mgolombane reiterated that he would be guided by the values of the Division of Student Affairs (DSA), which are rooted in humanity, ethics, and innovation in order to fulfil all DSA operations. He emphasised the importance of remembering that the significance of the division should not be limited to student governance with a narrow focus on the SRC. The DSA facilitates a wide range of essential co-curricular services for students through its Social Support Office, Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS), Student Counselling and Development (SCD), Student Life and Communities, and Student Affairs on the UFS South and Qwaqwa Campuses.
The DSA has partnered with the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning to create an integrated institutional framework for career development – which will speak directly to the employability of UFS graduates.