The 2024 Higher Education Facility Management Association (Hefma) conference, hosted by the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) in collaboration with it, was attended by more than 200 delegates from various universities and TVET colleges across the country, from Monday to Thursday, October 14 to 17.
The event was held under the theme ‘Sustainable campus of the future’, derived from the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, as adopted by the United Nations in 2015.

The Hefma conference was an educative gathering of management professionals within the higher education environment.

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Since the 2007/8 financial year to date, the higher education sector has invested more than R28.6b in new infrastructure development for universities. This conference was an opportune moment for delegates to share best practices, benchmark with peers and explore sustainable infrastructure development solutions and facilities management in higher education.

The UMP’s executive director of operations, Richard Flame, said these university are excited to have hosted this four-day conference.

According to him, what excites them about the topic of sustainability is that it implies where the universities are going in terms of the mandate and how they plan to get there.

“When we go forward, we need to have sustainability at the forefront. We want to establish the fact that we are beginning to be sustainable.”

Hefma’s president, Lindokuhle Mzolo, said in terms of their constitutional obligation, they are supposed to host the conference once a year before November.

“This year’s theme was the sustainable campus of the future, where we explored the future of sustainable and smart campuses.”

Mzolo described the 2024 event as the greatest he has ever attended. He said this event stood out, because for the first time they fully infused TVET colleges into the association.

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“For the longest time it has predominantly constituted universities, but this year, the 50 TVET colleges in South Africa participated. They are now fully subscribed as members of Hefma. I am quite fascinated by the level of engagement that we have seen here and how interesting these presentations are,” said Mzolo.