Jansen prophesies academic ruination

Noseweek Issue #200, 1st June 2016   


Jansen prophesies academic ruination

In his address to the Franschhoek Literary festival in May, Jonathan Jansen quipped that his work as Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State was the second-most difficult job in the world – after that of National Assembly Speaker.

“Right now, I should be spending time raising R100 million to fund students at my university. I should be developing curricula. I should be meeting with scholars to urge them to come to my university. But I’ve recently had to cancel three meetings with top international scholars in order to deal with constant protests and instability.”

Three days later, Jansen announced that he is to step down from his post as Vice-Chancellor and Rector at the end of August, to take up a Fellowship at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University in the USA. The UFS said his departure was a great loss, but an opportunity for him to further his career as an internationally renowned education academic.

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Submitted by : Hein Loots on 2016-05-31 18:49:29
Let us aspire to the highest common factor, rather than reducing everything and everyone, to to lowest common denominator.

Well put Charlie MacGillivray - I can not agree more. Lets get this message out to the protesting students. Surely they should be able to understand this, otherwise they should not be there.
 
Submitted by : Clive Varejes of GALLO MANOR on 2016-05-29 19:06:42
Once education is hijacked for political and destructive reasons so dies a country.

In the words of The Hitchhiker's Guide ToThe Galaxy:

Goodbye, goodbye, so long, so long, and thanks for all the fish.

Clive Varejes
 
Submitted by : Charlie MacGillivray on 2016-05-28 12:08:57
Professor Jansen was an extraordinary man with courage, insight and an open minded conviction. He was intuitively in-touch with the reality of SA education woes and expressed his views without fear or favour.

He is a great loss to our academia but I cannot blame him.

The youth of today needs to identify their targets, and vent their anger in a targeted and constructive manner, if they wish to effect change. Respect for institutions and those within them that keep them with the International reputation that is envied.

It is time to play the match by the rules of the game and to stop shooting themselves and everyone else in the foot.

Let us aspire to the highest common factor, rather than reducing everything and everyone, to to lowest common denominator.

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