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From awarding more than 9 000 qualifications the past academic year, to LaunchLab being named the top business incubator at a university in Africa, Stellenbosch University (SU) had many highlights to celebrate at the last Staff Assembly for 2019.

The Staff Assembly was held at the Adam Small Theatre on Thursday, 5 December 2019. 

Prof Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, thanked staff for their “hard work throughout the year" and for helping SU take its mission forward.

Of the many 2019 highlights of the University, Prof De Villiers shared the following key ones:

• The student module success rate remains above 86%, one of the highest in the country.
• The African Doctoral Academy turned ten this year, and SU now has 20 agreements for joint PhDs with top universities around the world.
• SU has improved its position in world rankings again, placing it in the top 1% of universities globally.
• A second-year Matie student won a big prize for inventing an edible straw.
• SU launched its School for Data Science and Computational Thinking.

Prof De Villiers also reiterated that SU would migrate from its current fragmented “house of brands and logos" to a unified monolithic brand architecture.

“There is only one Stellenbosch University, so there can only be one Stellenbosch University brand," said Prof De Villiers.

Other announcements included that SU will again award a record number of 5 853 qualifications at its nine December 2019 graduation ceremonies, which is also a first for SU. And retired Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron has been elected as SU's new Chancellor from next year. He will succeed Dr Johann Rupert, who provided exceptional service to the University over the past decade. 

Watch the full Staff Assembly below:

Photo by Stefan Els.