While most would have been happy to stay home and keep warm on a cold and rainy Saturday, several hundred students braved the rain and wind to attend the Leadership Summit for Aspiring Leaders (LSAL).  

On 27 July the Centre for Student Life and Learning (CSLL) hosted the LSAL for 450 attending in-person, and 150 online. The Summit was organised around the broad theme of #ChangeAsACatalystForGrowth. 

“Universities have a unique opportunity to cultivate spaces and learning that value critical thinking and pave the way for the kind of transformative change that each of us wants to see on our campuses, in our respective communities and in society," explained Yeki Mosomothane, Unit Manager: Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion at the CSLL, in his theme introduction.  

According to Dr Liezl Dick, Leadership Development Coordinator at the CSLL, the Summit aims to inspire students to avail themselves for leadership positions. 

“Our extensive research and engagement with student leaders indicated that leadership teams are struggling with the basics of collaboration: how to communicate, how to differ respectfully from each other, and how to allow for different ways of being and thinking in each other's company. These basic collaborative struggles become heightened in a highly politicised higher education landscape, characterised by rapid societal changes and the need for transformation," Dr Dick said.  

Despite the chilly weather, the warm and inviting atmosphere inside the Jan Mouton Learning Centre provided a space for students to engage earnestly with the purposefully designed programme. The day was divided into a morning and an afternoon session, with the morning session featuring a collective keynote facilitated by Rabia Abba Omar, Coordinator: Citizen Engagement at CSLL, and Ashley Walters, a visual artist who serves as the Coordinator: Fine Arts and a Lecturer in Photography and New Media at SU's Visual Arts Department, and simultaneous panel discussions in the two venues. The interactive collective keynote practically demonstrated communication and collaboration, as students had to work in groups to complete a body map actualising how leaders can work in separate environments towards a common goal.   

Panel members comprised of experienced student leaders and SU staff and the topic was “Collective Sense-Making: Change as a catalyst for growth". They were joined by Dr Debra Shepherd, a senior lecturer and researcher in the Economics Department, as well as Phila Msimang, a senior lecturer in Philosophy. The discussion included the future of leadership, dealing with disagreement, and “how to understand the role of student leadership within the global context".  

The afternoon session was based on the Nancy Kline book Time to Think: Ten components of a Thinking Environment, and facilitated by student mentors.  

“The student mentors wonderfully facilitated the Time to think sessions and equipped our outgoing student leaders and incoming leadership with valuable facilitation skills to navigate complex conversation on our campus," Dr Dick continued. 

The mentors were intentionally chosen to represent the diversity of leadership experiences found at SU, and their willingness to engage in peer-to-peer mentoring with the summit participants. 

The summit was supported by Student Affairs' senior management, including Dr Choice Makhetha, Senior Director of the Division Student Affairs, Dr Heidi October, Deputy Director: Leadership at CSLL, and Pieter Kloppers, Director of the CSLL. Rectorate members in attendance included Prof Deresh Ramjugernath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC): Learning and Teaching, Prof Hester Klopper, DVC: Strategy and Internationalisation, Prof Nico Koopman, DVC: Social Impact, Transformation and Personnel, and the Registrar, Dr Ronel Retief.

In his welcoming address, Prof Ramjugernath reminded students that leadership is about “self-lessness, the greater good and making a positive impact on one's wider community and society".  

Ishmael Mabena, Executive Cluster Convenor, and one of the participants described the Summit as “an incredible unofficial welcome for aspiring leaders into the election season and leadership term". 

“Working in groups during the summit to define what they deem and feel, the LSAL was an impeccable way of understanding the core value of leadership, teamwork, communication, and diversity."

Cole de Villers, Assistant Resident Head at Academia and a member of the LSAL organising team, said that the Summit did not only introduce “students to a thinking framework which would allow them to harness higher quality thinking for their decision-making" but also with an “opportunity to network and engage with staff from the CSLL". 

“It also provided an opportunity for them to become even more cognisant of the larger Stellenbosch University context, as they journey onward with their leadership."