A truly South African university that is academically excellent, innovative in research, critically engaged with society and demographically representative, redressing the disadvantages, inequities and imbalances of the past.

PRINCIPLES AND CORE VALUES

The University aspires to be a positively transformed institution based on a clear understanding of its goals for broad and comprehensive change underpinned by shared values. These values serve as a framework for all its endeavours.

As the University community we pledge ourselves to:

Actively encourage and respect the right of all scholars, staff and students to engage in critical inquiry, independent research, intellectual discourse and public debate in a spirit of responsibility and accountability, in accordance with the principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

Promote access to learning that will expand educational and employment opportunities for all.

Embrace our responsibility as a public institution to support and contribute to national and regional development, and the welfare and upliftment of the wider community, through the generation and dissemination of knowledge and the production of socially-responsible graduates.

Conduct ourselves according to the highest ethical standards, and provide education that promotes an awareness of sound ethical practice in a diverse society.

Manage and run our institution in conscious awareness of the environment, and foster a culture of responsible, ethical and sustainable use of natural resources.

Ensure effective governance through broad and inclusive participation, democratic representation, accountability, and transparency that serves as an example that contributes to building the democratic ethos of our country.

Acknowledge the value of the individual by promoting the intellectual, social and personal well-being of staff and students through tolerance and respect for multilingualism, diverse cultures, religions and social values, and by fostering the realisation of each person’s full potential.

GOALS

The goals of the University are:

African-led Globalisation:
To promote African-led globalisation through African scholarship by positioning the University, through its teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and innovation, to enter the global knowledge system on it.

Responsible Community Engagement:
To contribute through knowledge to the prosperity and sustainability of our province, and to nation-building, by connecting with and committing ourselves to the communities we serve in a manner that adds value and earns their respect, admiration and trust.

Pre-eminence in Research:
To build a research ethos that acknowledges the responsibility of academic staff to nurture its postgraduate students, and to be a pre-eminent producer of new knowledge that is both local and global in context, and defines UKZN as the premier university of African scholarship.

Excellence in Teaching and Learning: To promote excellence in teaching and learning through creative and innovative curriculum design and development, pedagogical strategies, and assessment
practices in accordance with the highest quality management principles.

Institution of Choice for Learners:
To establish the University as an institution of choice that values students in all their diversity and has a student-centred ethos, providing students with curricula, teachers, infrastructure and support services designed around their needs and producing well-educated, competent, sought-after graduates.

Institution of Choice for Staff:
To establish the University as an institution of choice that attracts and retains academic and support staff of the highest calibre by creating an intellectual environment that fosters and stimulates academic life, and a climate of organisational citizenship in which all staff recognise and understand their role in ensuring the success of the University.

Efficient and Effective Management:
To establish and maintain efficient, effective management systems and processes that provide a caring and responsive service to meet internal and external needs in a pragmatic and flexible manner.