UCT and Wits business schools ranked among the top in the world for MBAs.
UCT students and staff object to mandatory vaccination plan, and municipal workers settle for below inflation wage increases. DUT retrenches 31 lecturers without master’s degrees, while South African business schools make a strong showing in global MBA rankings.
Petition against mandatory vaccination at UCT
A petition objecting to the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) senate motion of mandatory vaccinations has been started at the university.
UCT has reportedly proposed that every student, as a condition of registering next year, will be required to provide proof of having been vaccinated. This extends to staff members, as a condition of being able to perform their duties.
The petition calls for the promotion of voluntary vaccination uptake, noting that it is an individual decision in accordance with constitutional provisions.
Salga agrees to below inflation wage increase
Unions representing municipal workers have settled for a below-inflation wage increase, starting with a 3.5 percent basic increase and a one-off non-pensionable cash allowance.
Increases “in the outer years of this agreement will be based on the inflation outlook and projections made by the SA Reserve Bank”, according to a statement from the SA Local Government Association (Salga).
The agreement includes no increases in certain benefits, such as homeowner’s allowance and medical aid, and restructuring workers’ pension funds.
DUT retrenches 31 lecturers
The Durban University of Technology has retrenched 31 lecturers who have failed to obtain a master’s degree in their respective fields more than a decade after being told to do so.
According to a communiqué, this followed a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) consultation process.
The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) has called on the Higher Education minister to intervene and to nullify the “irregular” retrenchments.
UCT and Wits among top MBAs in the world
Two South African MBAs are ranked among the 286 schools listed on the rankings of global higher and business education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) for the world’s best MBA programmes.
The University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business ranked the top in Africa and second in the Middle-East and Africa region with Wits Business School ranking sixth regionally, and third on the continent.
The QS Global MBA Rankings 2022 highlight the best MBA programmes across the world from 45 study destinations.
According to the group, employability accounts for the largest portion of the ranking score (40 percent) and focuses on employers’ preferences on which businesses schools they like to hire graduates from.
