Languages: 
WSU Vice-Chancellor (VC) and Principal Professor Rob Midgley displayed unequalled courtship during his inaugural VC’s dinner with university donors and funders in Johannesburg recently.
The dinner was a gesture of friendship and collaboration to the institution’s stakeholders in efforts to take the agenda of WSU’s development forward.
Prof. Midgley wooed his keen audience with his vision of a WSU that is competitive with technologies, careers and disruptions of the fourth industrial revolution(4IR).
“In the fourth revolution situation, it is your skills and flexibility and your ability to adapt that is more important than your ability to get your first job because the jobs that exist now are going to disappear and you have to be able to adjust to being competitive,” he said.
The VC was more concerned with the readiness of the university’s graduates for the impending industrial disruption that is the 4IR.
“We need to have future ready graduates. Those who can attack challenges that are complex but also with a proper value system: critically, ethically and scholarly,” Midgley said.
Among the captivated audience was the events keynote speaker and WSU donor, Elizanne Wessels, Chairperson and Trustee of the Albert Wessels Trust.
The former school teacher shared passionately her relationship with education and the importance of giving.
“When I joined the board of trustees on The Albert Wessels Trust, I understood it was important to give,” she said.
Elizanne concluded and said that there was a particular arrogance about success when everything is on tap. The assumption that if you have the money, the expensive education, the finest educators, privilege, you’re going to be a winner.
“When we detach from the subjective reality of people around us, we stop living consciously. This may spare us the discomfort of feeling, but this is at the expense of emotional growth and meaningful connections,” added Elizanne.
Other generous stakeholders present at the dinner were executives from the Land Bank, Vodacom and the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
By: Sinawo Hermans
