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?By Nicolette van den Eijkel, Chief Director: Facilities Management
Our focus this year must be on ensuring that we are "future-fit" by embracing innovation, sustainability, and operational excellence. We need to work on having a culture and structure of adaptability and continuous improvement so that our campus facilities and the services we provide are functional today and ready to meet the evolving needs of tomorrow's students and staff while meeting the objectives of Vision 2040. I am excited about the year ahead and the opportunity to realign and assess that we are doing the right things in the right way with the right people and the right resources. Let us see that in December 2025, we can say: “We are (al)right".
To achieve this, in 2025 the Facilities Management Division will focus on:
The Campus Renewal Project: namely:
- Development of the Central Campus Renewal project and the relocation of parts of Agrisciences Faculty to Welgevallen
- Continuation of the existing CRP projects
Implementing the six-year Capital Plan to get approval from Council for funding for infrastructure needs
- Providing a welcoming environment for all students and staff
- Improving operational efficiency by
- Aligning the structure of SUFM to ensure that it is “future-fit" and has the right resources in the proper structure; and
- Understanding our funding and budgets and ensuring that the right budget is used for the right purposes.
- Harnessing our digital assets and systems to ensure that we improve sustainability and efficiency.
The start of 2025 is good! The Chinese New Year was on 29 January, and we are entering the year of the wood snake, billed as “a year to explore, get inspired and share your light". I hope we are all inspired to explore and make SU the best university in South Africa.
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