12-09-2012: City of Joburg signs agreement with three universities
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on strategic collaboration between the City of Johannesburg and the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within the City
is to be signed on 12 September 2012, at 5pm on the 16th floor at Metro Centre in Braamfontein.
The participants are the public higher education institutions located in Johannesburg, University of Johannesburg; University of the Witwatersrand and
University of South Africa.
The Memorandum of Understanding lays the ground for the development of collaborative partnerships between the city and the HEIs. It will assist to create a
public agenda that empowers citizens and makes positive spatial, social, economic and environmental outcomes for Johannesburg and its citizens through
interventions that promote desirable places for citizens to live, work, play and visit.
Cooperation between the City of Johannesburg and Higher Education Institutions started in 2003 and has to date yielded positive results in the areas of
economic development, corporate services training, internships and learnerships and environmental management.
Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and the City’s Health Department have been involved with Wits University in establishing the Hillbrow Health Precinct
over the last six years. The City renovated a building in Hillbrow and made it available to Wits University for HIV related research and support work.
This partnership will be an important step in realizing the City's economic vision of a world-class city as set out in the Joburg 2040 Strategy (GDS). The
purpose of this MOU is therefore, based on the realization that the City of Johannesburg and HEI's have an important role to play in local economic and
social development.
The MOU aims and objectives are to achieve amongst others the following:
• To develop and advance the common goals and strategic vision of the City and the HEIs.
• To respond to the needs of the City and its residents.
• To integrate social, economic, environmental and governance considerations in all collaborative initiatives.
• To acknowledge the role of the HEIs as inter alia major investors in the City.
• To advance the sharing and transfer of knowledge and innovation through mechanisms for systematic and sustained engagement at the highest practical level.
• To commit parties towards establishing Johannesburg as a Centre for Excellence for Higher Education in Africa, especially Southern Africa.
Residents of Johannesburg stand to benefit greatly from this partnership mainly in the areas of health; transportation; energy efficiency; internship and
learnerships; housing; research and data; economic development and job creation.
This signing of the MOU comes at an important point in the efforts currently undertaken by the Department of Higher Education to transform the higher
education system, in order to make it more responsive to the country's skills needs.
ENDS
For more information contact:
Nkosinathi Nkabinde
Communication Specialist
City of Johannesburg Group Communication & Tourism Department
Tel: (011) 407 - 6477
Cell: 083 408 7787
E-mail: nkosinathin@joburg.org.za"> nkosinathin@joburg.org.za
Website: www.joburg.org.za
