To mobilise students and staff to bring to life the university’s values and principles, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will be launching the ENVISION2030 Living Values Framework in the Durban and Midlands campuses, over a period of four days starting from Tuesday, 18 July 2023 to Friday, 21 July 2023.
The ENVISION2030 Living Values Framework was adopted and approved by the university management in 2022. It is built upon five core values which are: Transparency, Honesty, Integrity, Respect, Accountability and five principles namely: Fairness, Professionalism, Commitment, Compassion and Excellence. This framework is aimed at driving behavioural change amongst students and staff of the University.
The launch will consist of a series of events aimed at mobilising employees and students to embrace and live by the ENVISION2030 Living Values Framework. These exciting events will also consist of competitions and prize giving to the participants. The planned events are as follows:
Tuesday, 18 July 2023
- Living Values Walk around DUT campuses in Durban and Midlands. The walks will symbolise the importance of “Walking the Living Values Talk”. It will coincide with Mandela Day, which has a similar connotation around “walking the talk”.
Wednesday, 19 July 2023
- Big reveal and official launch of the Living Values Framework by Executive Management Committee. The DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Thandwa Mthembu will deliver a keynote address and will reveal the Living Values Framework.
Thursday, 20 July 2023
- Leading Culture Workshops, facilitated by Professor Caroline Parker from Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, UK.
- Theatrical play presented by Drama Students based on Living Values Framework.
- On campus radio broadcast, covering Living Values Framework.
Friday, 21 July 2023
- Living Values exhibition showcasing work from different areas in DUT
Fashion Show by the DUT Fashion Students.
Speaking on the establishment of the ENVISION2030 Living Values Framework, DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Thandwa Mthembu said the first step was the determination of a set of values and principles for DUT people.
“The decision was taken for the values and principles to be determined by our people. To this end, a number of townhall engagements took place in 2019, where participants, students and staff had to give voice to what they regarded as the most importance values and principles for DUT. From this process, five key values and five key principles were identified. The values identified are; Transparency, Honesty, Integrity, Respect and Accountability. The principles espoused are Fairness, Professionalism, Commitment, Compassion and Excellence,” explained Prof Mthembu.
He further explained that having identified the five key values and five principles, the intent was to make them more meaningful than simply appearing on the university branding. Prof Mthembu indicated that the university planned to achieve this by adopting a Living Values Methodology, which is a project located in the University of Bologna in Italy.
“DUT decided to adopt the Living Values Methodology as a means to embed the adopted values and principles within the university, in a deliberate and methodical way by crafting a set of shared definitions and associated behaviours across DUT stakeholder pillars. Many innovations, inventions, came out that helped to evolve DUT’s Living Values Framework, into a unique and innovative homegrown framework that spoke specifically to the needs of DUT. Definitions for each value and each principle, as well as desired behaviours associated with each value and principle were collected via a series of about 41 or more workshops called the Cascading Conversations with both staff and students. The data was further refined via students and staff workshops to ultimately produce the ENVISION2030 Living Values Framework,” elaborated Prof Mthembu.
Pictured: DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Thandwa Mthembu.
Simangele Zuma
