The Mandela School during COVID-19: webinar series, masterclass series and remote learning

On 15 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the COVID-19 outbreak has been declared a national state of disaster in terms of the Disaster Management Act. This was followed by the announcement of the nationwide lockdown on 27 March, aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
 
In response to COVID-19, the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town (UCT), has been working hard to assist students and to ensure that the academic year continues. 

The part-time masters, first and second year semesters in June and July, which consists of 38 students, that are spread across 12 African countries, will be taught remotely using both synchronous and ayschronous modalities. 

First years are submitting their course assignments which the teaching faculty is grading, while second years are receiving supervision for their research proposal writing. The Mandela School’s postgraduate team plans for all courses to be completed as prearranged and research dissertations to be submitted in December 2020.

The postgraduate team continues to provide executive coaching sessions to first-year students. All the academic management structures at the School and UCT are functional for decision-making. Eleven 2018 Masters students will graduate this year!

The postgrad team: Academic Director, Dr Shanil Haricharan, Postgraduate Programme Manager Elvina Moosa, Mandela School Director, Professor Faizel Ismail, Programme Coordinator Zikhona Sikota, and Lecturer Musa Nxele. Photo: Michael Hammond