Premier acknowledges work done by University of Mpumalanga during recent visit
Various areas of collaboration between the provincial government and the UMP were identified.
As a part of initial deliberations to strengthen relations, the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) hosted Premier Mandla Ndlovu and his team on Tuesday, November 13.
In welcoming the delegation from the provincial government, the chairperson of UMP Council, Sabelo Mahlalela, said the occasion is an important engagement to cement the relationship between the UMP and the provincial government.
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During this visit Ndlovu acknowledged the work that the university has done for the province.
“The UMP has set high standards of excellence. You have put our province on the map for the right reasons. May you continue with the excellent work of producing hard working and well-rounded graduates for our province and our country.”
In a statement, Ndlovu said it is about time for the province to take research-informed decisions to address fundamental challenges such as unemployment and poverty. “The provincial government is on a quest to establish a Research Institute to achieve the objective, and urged the UMP to support the initiative.”
Ndlovu said they are optimistic that the province’s ambitious plan of creating 100 000 jobs annually can be achieved.
“This is through the collaboration with partners such as the UMP. We urged the academic institution to establish reskilling and entrepreneur programmes, to train the youth and graduates.”
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The UMP vice chancellor, Professor Thoko Mayekiso, said: “As an engaged university we value partnerships and we appreciate the strategic partnership that we have with the provincial government.”
The identified areas of collaboration include research focusing on just energy transition to avert job losses, hosting of the Mining Indaba and establishment of a mining school, expediting the process of offering health sciences at UMP, entrepreneurship development, skilling and reskilling of youth, and addressing youth and graduate unemployment.
