A five-member Unisa delegation led by the institution’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, recently visited Seoul, South Korea.
Commencing on 11 March 2024, the visit was part of the institution’s strategic foci of developing meaningful collaborative international partnerships and generating revenue.
In addition to a strategic high-level meeting in which advanced engagements explored meaningful partnership and collaborative possibilities with Yonsei University’s President, Professor Dong-Sup Yoon and his delegation, the Unisa Delegation attended two critical meetings.
The first of these was the international meeting of the Global Engagement and Empowerment Forum on Sustainable Development (GEEF 2024), organised by the Ban Ki-moon Foundation.
GEEF is a critical space in which a variety of global leaders participated on topics based on the theme Reboot the SDGs, Reset Our Future.
The conference was hosted by Yonsei University, one of the highest rated Asian universities in global rankings. LenkaBula was honoured to be one of the GEEF 24 participants who were invited to approach the topic from the transformation perspective. Such a focus makes sense, given the fact that she has been tasked by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, to lead a task team on transformation in the context of gender-based violence in the higher education sector in South Africa.
Prior to the start of the GEEF 24 conference, there was an important meeting held for the launch of the Institute of African Studies at Yonsei University.
LenkaBula was invited to be the keynote speaker at this launch. Worthy of note here is that in October 2023, LenkaBula led a delegation of 11 universities from the African continent to the Yonsei- African Universities Initiative for Research and Human Development, which directly gave rise to the formation of Institute of African Studies.
In advance of the two key events, the Unisa delegation had a strategic meeting at Yonsei University with the university’s newly appointed President, Professor Dong-Sup Yoon, and his delegation which included Professor Young-Jong Sohn, Provost, Professor Yongho Kim, Senior Vice-President for Administration and Development, Professor Yong-Chan Kim, Vice-President for International Affairs, and Professor Samuel Y. Pang, Dean, Institute of African Studies.
It is important to note that on this visit, Unisa’s academic presence was not only felt within the confines of Yonsei University, the GEEF 2024 conference and the launch of the Institute of African Studies.
LenkaBula was interviewed on KBS World Radio International and on national television. Following the various meetings and engagements, it is clear that there is major enthusiasm and commitment on the part of both Yonsei University and Unisa to enter into very strong strategic agreements and collaborations in the near future.
Pretoria News