UJ Strategic Plan 2035
The University of Johannesburg’s current Strategic Plan – UJ Strategic Plan 2035 – guides and frames our activities at all levels of the organisation. It provides the roadmap to achieving our vision and gives effect to our mission.
Our vision
To be an international University of choice, anchored in Africa and the global south, dynamically shaping a sustainable future.
Our mission
To transform and serve humanity through innovation and the collective and collaborative pursuit of knowledge.
Our values
Impact
Positive societal impact is the key purpose that drives our collective and collaborative academic and organisational activities.
Making a difference is what we stand for.
Innovation
Pushing boundaries in knowledge generation, in technology, in the way we teach and learn, in the way we do research, and in the way we collaborate, defines the way we do things to achieve our societal impact and sustainability vision.
We reinvent the future.
Inclusivity
Harnessing difference and diversity, applying multiple perspectives to solving problems, caring for others, and collaboration in pursuit of a shared vision, characterise our institutional ethos.
We see inclusivity as strength.
Integrity
Honesty, transparency, accountability, openness, fairness, social justice, and a commitment to truth, underpin all our endeavours.
We earn trust through integrity.
Our Impact
Everything we do at UJ is intended to make a positive impact on society, the economy, cultural life, public policy, health, and the environment. Our societal impact will ensure the sustainability of our communities, our city, our country, our continent, and our planet. Working together, we will transform our students’ lives through quality education, unlock and maximise the potential of our staff to thrive, apply our energies to developing new generations of influential people, and dedicate our knowledge and time to solving difficult problems for a better and more sustainable world.
Our strategic core areas
Education
At UJ, we provide our students with a holistic world-class educational experience that extends beyond formal teaching and learning, to prepare them to be curious and resilient critical thinkers who make a positive impact on the world. UJ will lead with education that is based on fundamental principles of quality teaching and learning in an innovative way that is adaptable and flexible, and fit for future needs. Our teaching and learning will be infused with relevant research and underpinned by care, relevance and social responsiveness. The social purpose of universities is core to our approach to education and our community engagement activities, expanding our students’ opportunities to apply their learning to the solution of societal and sustainability problems, both during and after their studies.
Research and Innovation
We will build on UJ’s success in becoming a leading international research university, anchored in Africa and the global south, focused on finding, offering and spearheading novel and purposeful solutions to the major challenges of our time and of the future. Through the creative use of evolving technologies, our groundbreaking research will contribute to living sustainably in an increasingly digital future. Our research will be underpinned by our values – Impact, Innovation, Inclusivity and Integrity – and our education will be infused with the curiosity and critical thinking that leads to discovery. The quality and impact of our research will be far-reaching and influential.
Purposeful Collaborative
Our leadership at all levels will be open, accessible, responsive, enabling, and intuitively forward-looking. Our organisational culture will foster a sense of belonging and be characterised by care for everyone in the university community, supporting their growth, development and sustained well-being. Our communication will be concise, consistent and honest. We will be accountable for embedding the UJ values – Impact, Innovation, Inclusivity and Integrity – in all that we do. We will be an organisation that is optimally structured, staffed and resourced to support our key strategic goal of making a positive societal impact and furthering a better and more sustainable future, working with and in our communities and society. We will be resilient, swift and agile in our responses to contextual challenges, harnessing collective and collaborative energies in the best interests of our university and its people.
Our strategic themes
Societal Impact and Sustainability
As a university immersed in its society, the economy, and the environment, UJ will take a holistic approach to addressing the challenges of our time and of the future and to furthering societal impact and sustainability, from an African and global south perspective. We will be a driver of positive change in our communities and society, transforming and serving humanity through innovation and the collective and collaborative pursuit of knowledge.
Global Footprint and Partnerships
As a university in Africa and the global south, UJ will be at the forefront of generating and applying knowledge to the solution of local and global societal and sustainability issues. As a learning organisation, UJ will enhance its national and global reputation through education, extensive scholarship, participation in knowledge networks, and collaboration with national, international and multilateral partners in higher education, industry and government. A vibrant global engagement and internationalisation programme that transcends borders will define our institutional ethos and operations, and contribute to our education and our research that will elevate our global standing and extend our footprint beyond our national boundaries. We will foster international diversity in our student and staff profiles and provide opportunities for international collaboration to enrich our education and our research.
Technology for the Future
We will be a university that builds on our 4IR strategy to employ technology in a people-centred, humane and ethical way, to cultivate the next generation of minds as we move towards a world of increasing digital complexity. We will use a digital transformation strategy to enable and support our teaching and learning, research, communication, infrastructure, administration, and services, to become a sustainable smart university. We will infuse all our organisational activities with appropriate technologies as we pursue our institutional societal impact and sustainability agenda.