SAASSAP creates new partnership opportunities in higher education

At the recent Roundtable Discussion of the South African Association of Senior Student Affairs Professionals (SAASSAP), Vice-Chancellor Prof Chris Nhlapo encouraged attendees to champion holistic student development and ignite the spirit of youth empowerment.

“SAASSAP must catalyse genuine growth with higher education, especially within student affairs. SAASSAP must provide a platform for all 26 institutions to compare notes and leverage capacities for the benefit of South Africa. SAASSAP must provide a platform for renewal of our vibrant institutional cultures,” SAASSAP remarked.

He also urged SAASSAP to foster excellence and genuine stability in the sector, saying that CPUT was delighted to host the roundtable, aptly themed: Relevance and Impact of Student Affairs Leadership in South African Higher Education: The Road Ahead. “We are equally excited to host delegates, speakers, and participants from across the length and breadth of South Africa and beyond.”

SAASSAP serves as the national platform for deans, executive directors, and directors in student affairs across the country. Its mandate is to position senior student affairs leaders as strategic partners in advancing student success, thought leaders in driving higher education transformation, and champions of professional growth within the sector.

In a statement by Tulani Nkuntse, Deputy Secretary General: SAASSAP, stated that the Roundtable marked a defining moment for “our sector — a time to reflect, reimagine, and reaffirm the pivotal role of student affairs in shaping institutional transformation and advancing student success”. “This is more than a conference; it is a call to purpose for every senior Student Affairs professional to contribute to defining the road ahead for our universities and our students,” the statement read.

Amongst the speakers at this event, which was held at Bellville Campus, was Prof Hester Klopper, Vice-Chancellor: University of the Free State, who delivered a keynote address on South African higher education in context: Towards a Student Affairs that is relevant and impactful. Klopper said: “It is both an honour and a responsibility to stand before you today as we gather to discuss something that sits at the very heart of our work in higher education: the relevance and impact of student affairs in our uniquely South African context.”

She said that she was reminded that they are not merely administrators of services or coordinators of programmes. “We are, in many ways, the architects of possibility for students navigating one of the most complex higher education landscapes in the world.”

Klopper noted that there are needs that go beyond the physical, stating that “our students’ mental health crisis alone should keep us awake at night”. She said that around 20% of students in South Africa need psychological support. “Yet, between 66% and 77% of those with mental health disorders never seek help. “They suffer in silence, often until it is too late. The statistics on gender-based violence are, of course, equally devastating.”

In his closing remarks, SAASSAP President Jerome September said the two-day event was a reset, a re-orientation. “A re-commitment to who we are and who we must become.

It is a beginning… These two days reminded us of something profound: Student affairs is not the side-show of higher education. We are its conscience. We are its pulse. We are its humanising force. We are the architects of possibility.

“Our students, South Africa’s young people, are raised in hope. Our young people are hungry for education. Even when their circumstances tremble, their hope and hunger do not. And because hope is their inheritance, we must be the architects of possibility.”

September continued: “We also recommit to walking deliberately with Universities South Africa, and to deep and active collaboration with our sister associations: HEDSA [HEDSA - Higher Education Disability Services Association], ACUHO-I SA [Association of College and University Housing Officers International – Southern African Chapter], SACDHE [SA Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education], and NASDEV [National Association for Student Development Professionals]. And to reach out, again, to those who were not here. What happened may well be the beginning of a new ecosystem of partnership in South African higher education.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: BoyceAp@cput.ac.za