Ahmed Bawa

Andrew Layman:  PCB CEO

At a function at the Durban University of Technology, I was very pleased to meet Ahmed Bawa again.  He took up the position of Vice Chancellor of the University on 1 September.   I believe they have chosen exactly the right person to lead them.   Ahmed, who is well-known to local people, is an academic with extraordinary feeling for the reality of life on the ground.   He is a wise man as opposed to simply a clever one.   He will not rush into changes for the sake of making an impact; he will absorb the prevailing circumstances, think hard, consult with those he needs to consult with, and then take decisive and positive steps, and in the course of time this university will reflect the visions and objectives of its new head.

In the meantime, he seems to have just missed yet another uprising of the students.   I’m not sure what this one was all about.  At the neighbouring UKZN students are in a froth because they believe that residences will be privatised.   The University denies this, saying that the company that is being formed is for other purposes.    Student activism on this subject reveals the underlying unionist suspicion of privatisation.   To me, it is a positive step that results in enhanced efficiency and service and less financial wastefulness.  

Student activism is not unique to this country by any means.   It will continue for ever, I suppose, as young adults begin to think seriously about the issues of the world and feel the need to demonstrate against those of them that do not fit their idealistic or immature views.    We are remarkably tolerant of these rebellions considering that as taxpayers we contribute extensively to the facilities that are available to modern-day students, who, in too many cases, cannot rebel without vandalising the facilities that have been provided for their benefit.  

 It is years since I went on to a campus as a student, so when I was enrolled as a student this year, I was interested to see what the institution is like in the 21^st century.    I was astonished at the facilities that are available.    The library at UKZN is a revelation, and so too is the network of contemporary communication media.   From packages that compile bibliographies and ensure proper citation to checks for unwitting plagiarism to online facilities for the submission of assignments, the world of student academia is very sophisticated.   It is very expensive, I’m sure, and if one considers the high failure rate among under-graduate students, a great deal of the money is wasted.    Yet all these benefits do not seem to be sufficient to keep students happy.   They have a culture of entitlement which seems to take little account of the value, and cost, of what is being provided.   It is expensive for them (or their parents), of course, but their fees fall far short of what this level of education actually costs.  

In my youth we wore collars and ties to lectures and jackets and academic gowns to evening meals in the hostels.  First-years were not allowed to have motor cars.   We had few rights, for our admission to the university was a privilege.    We broke some of the rules, of course, and NUSAS was making itself heard, but only in mass meetings in the Student Union.   There were no boycotts, and deliberate damage to property was unthinkable, except as a result of a late-night drunken accident.    I do not regard this as a golden age and the subsequent moves to less formality and a democratic student environment are totally acceptable.    But the assumption of rights-without-responsibility is difficult to accept.    Teaching in a university context has become far more difficult, I imagine, because there is so little show of respect these days, either for age, or for wisdom and knowledge, or for the institution itself.   Students come and go, in and out of lectures, with cell phones on to alert them to any social priority that requires immediate attention.    Lecturers are under constant pressure to meet the expectations and demands of students who, it seems, have become oblivious of their true status in the academic world.

I have the highest regard for Professor Ahmed Bawa.  He will manage this environment with insight and understanding; I don’t think I could.             

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