Tuesday 3 March 2020

Key achievements over the past 3 years (Part III - Final)


Innovative Marketing Strategies

The strategic engagement with the press through regular requests for coverage of events, press releases, the use of social media such as Facebook to promote the University’s activities and interviews of different officers of the University contributed to restoring a positive perception of the general public towards the institution. The University’s activities were also promoted through the different recruitment agents and video interviews of high-profile Alumni of the UoM. The University has been having recourse to professional digital marketing companies such as Keystone Academic Solutions to market our high-end dual degree courses with University of Arizona and Paris-Seine. Emphasis has been laid both on the local and international markets with respect to brand promotion and upholding of the University’s image and reputation as the premier National University of Mauritius. The impact of our actions has been clearly demonstrated by the gradual rise in the number of international student applications and increasing number of requests from different European institutions to participate in Erasmus+ programmes with them. 

The Setting up of the UoM Incubator

The University Council at its 439th (Ordinary) Meeting held on 31 August 2017 approved the concept note for the setting up of the UoM Incubator. A number of activities were carried out in the context of the incubator namely the Innovative ICT business idea competition in collaboration with the National Computer Board and the Ministry of technology, communications and innovation (TCI). Another project, in collaboration with the NPCC and the e-inclusion foundation involving 3 groups of students working on IOT solutions for SMEs was carried out.The SBM is currently funding one of the projects to help them move towards proof of concept. Furthermore, a module called “build your business” was developed and implemented as a pilot in the “Web and Multimedia Development” programme of studies at the Centre for Innovative & Lifelong Learning. The VFX Postproduction lab is also being setup in the context of the Digital Technologies incubator. 


The Digital Language Lab

The office facilitated the establishment of a Digital Language Lab at the University of Mauritius (hosted at the FSSH) and the procurement of the language learning software. After a successful pilot at the level of the FSSH and the CILL, the language learning project has now been extended University-wide to students and staff.

The VFX and Postproduction Initiative

The office has been working on this initiative since 2017, in close collaboration with the Vice-Chancellor, the Chief of Facilities, the Dean of FOICDT and the Economic Development Board. A working group had been constituted to look at all the aspects and implications of mounting courses and programmes in postproduction and VFX. At this point in time, the procurement award for the equipment and machines for the VFX lab has already been approved at Council, and the space to setup the lab has already been identified. 

Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA)


In 2017, the University of Mauritius and Huawei Technologies (Mauritius) Co Limited signed an agreement for the implementation of a Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) at the University for providing Huawei Certified Training Programs to students and in-service professionals. Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) is a not for profit partnership program that authorizes universities and colleges to deliver Huawei Certification courses. Based on its industry leading ICT technologies and global ICT practices, Huawei has developed a full range of ICT career certifications in order to support local ICT education, share knowledge, create more opportunities, and build a better ICT talent eco-system. Within the scope of this collaboration, Huawei has sponsored two lab kits, one for Switching and Routing course and one for the Cloud course which amount to about USD 40,600. The equipment has been received and installed in 2018. Two instructors have been trained in South Africa for delivering the Huawei Networking Curriculum and four instructors have been trained for delivering the Huawei Cloud curriculum. 


Capacity Building of Staff at all levels

To ensure that our staff effectively embrace and share the vision of the University to ensure a competent workforce that is focused and engaged, the University has engaged into a training needs analysis, and the development of a capacity-building plan for the staff. There has been a series of diverse training targeting staff at all levels (e.g. Tea Making for Office Attendants or Language Proficiency Training for Administrative Staff) and the university-wide training on transformational leadership is currently ongoing. The Leadership development programme is a spin-off project from the experience of the Pro VC after his participation in the University Leadership Training in Malawi by Ruforum in 2017. The development of a CPD framework for the staff is now under process to improve staff competency, capabilities and engagement.

Performance Management System (PMS)

Council approved the PMS to be piloted at the Human Resources section on a voluntary basis and other units of the University willing to be part of the pilot. The pilot has started at the level of the HR section. A committee under the Chairmanship of the Pro VC (Planning & Resources) regrouping the academic and non-academic staff union of the University. Once the workload for academic staff is finalized, the finalized PMS will be submitted to Council for University-wide implementation on a pilot basis. A workshop on competencies building and evaluation has been conducted with Senior Management by Mr Patil Hunma in October 2019.

Revision of the Leave without Pay Policy

At the request of Council, the divergence between the Unions and the Management on the issue of leave without pay has been looked into by the Pro VC (P&R). The different proposals have been submitted to Council and the issue has been resolved to the satisfaction of the Unions.

The setting up of a staff welfare fund university-wide


The University provides for a small sum of money to each staff for participation in end-of-year team-building activities. On the other hand, a handful of staff benefits from their full participation to be catered for, from specific funds earmarked for their departments. It has been brought to the attention of Senior Management that this is causing some demotivation among other staff of the University. Further to consultations, the Staff Committee has now approved that, henceforth, the University will set aside earmarked funds from revenue generating activities in a consolidated fund, which will be used to promote team-building activities across the University.

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