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Co-Curriculum Office

The University in its Strategic Intent states “We educate the thought leaders for the future. Leaders that have a better insight into world issues, an innovative unlocking of creative abilities to solve problems, and an encouragement of meaningful action to serve society through knowledge”. Stellenbosch University has adopted the conceptual understanding of the co curriculum as the life-wide experience into which the academic life is embedded whilst simultaneously being framed by the academic experience thereby complementing, augmenting and deepening the student learning experience. By shaping the co-curriculum in a purposeful way, student engagement and connection to social, academic and institutional life is deepened and enhanced. Furthermore, the SU co-curriculum encompasses “intentional and organized activities that allow for the intersection of the personal-social-academic lives of students contributing towards holistic development” and the realization of the SU Graduate Attributes.

We define the SU Co-Curriculum as coherent, purposeful, experiential education that amplifies knowledge acquisition, develops critical life and work-place skills and competencies; builds values and interests; fosters community formation, intentionally creating pathways for the professional development of African-centered, global citizenship. The SU Co-Curriculum strives to position experiential learning in ways which allows for and encourages students to engage critically with knowledge - its nature and its application. The Co-Curriculum therefore mirrors the Institutional academic project’s principles of Teaching and Learning as contributing towards the formation and cultivation of the cognitive character of students as well as the wider public. The goal is to produce graduates that “can think effectively and critically”; have “achieved depth in some field of knowledge”, and have a “critical appreciation of the ways in which we gain knowledge and understanding of the universe, of society, and of ourselves”. Our graduates should also have “a broad knowledge of other cultures and other times”; be “able to make decisions based on reference to the wider world and to the historical forces that have shaped it”; have “some understanding of and experience in thinking systematically about moral and ethical problems”; and be able to “communicate with cogency”.

The thread that connects the curriculum and co-curriculum spaces at Stellenbosch University is the inculcation of the SU Graduate Attributes within all programme learning outcomes. The intention of the SU Graduate Attributes is to elicit Attitudes and Values unique to the Matie Graduate which will continue to emerge through the graduate’s way of being and doing in the world.

Read the following document for more information: Co-Curriculum Accreditation Process