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Compact to facilitate regional co-operation in higher
education in the Western Cape
The Vice Chancellors and Heads of the Universities and Technikons
in the Western Cape signed a ground breaking compact of behaviour on 3rd
December 2001. The Compact commits their institutions to work together to build
a coherent higher education system in the region through academic programme
collaboration.
The Compact describes the progress the Universities of Cape Town,
Stellenbosch, and the Western Cape and the Cape and Peninsula Technikons have
made since the early eighties when their informal collaboration began. By 1993
the Councils of the five institutions had established a registered education
Trust. The Trust manages joint infrastructural projects through a high-powered
Board. The projects include the automation of the five libraries, information literacy,
upgrading school maths and science, and copyright clearance. Latterly the Trust
has been working to promote academic programme collaboration.
The Compact had its origins in a workshop held in March 2001 when
the Vice Chancellors formulated a strategic vision and committed themselves to
six key principles of co-operation. The strategic vision reads:
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"To
establish the Western Cape as a strong higher education region in a
restructured national system which, through systemic inter-institutional co-operation
and academic programme collaboration, will be
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The principles of co-operation cover:
1.
Commitment
to our strategic vision
2.
Institutional
behaviour toward each other that befits co-operation
3.
Mutual
respect for the 'rules of the game'
4.
Actively
facilitating higher education co-operation in the region
5.
Working
with business and government for socio-economic development in the Western Cape
6.
Promoting
co-operation nationally and internationally.
With the signing of this Compact comes the unveiling of a new
public face for regional collaboration in higher education. The Trust will
operate as the Cape Higher Education Consortium, or CHEC. The significance of
this change of name is that it formally signifies our determination to use the
Consortium to build the Western Cape as a strong higher education region that
is sensitive to national policy objectives and responsive to the challenges of
the global knowledge economy of our times.
Aside from signing the Compact the Vice Chancellors and Trustees
will review progress in collaboration across such important areas as graduate
health sciences, dentistry, information and communication technology, teacher
training, performing arts, visual arts & design as well as the
establishment of the administrative protocols that will make joint academic
offerings feasible.
View the Compact (PDF format only)
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Page updated 2nd December 2003