• To facilitate transdisciplinary research on urban citizenship
• To focus community engagement and strengthen social impact through evidence-based multi-scalar interventions
• To support the socio-economic and spatial transformation imperatives of the national development agenda
• To give effect to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda
These aims will be achieved through inter-faculty liaison and alignment of existing curricular activities to research projects and community engagement initiatives aimed at supporting national development and sustainable development goals.
The unit liaises with the faculties of UP and research centres around trans-disciplinary research projects, curriculum collaboration and intervention projects, coordinating curricular engagement with community participants over appropriate timespans, and ensuring that these engagements are mutually understood and reciprocally significant. The UUC assists with ethical monitoring, educational rigour, and research consistency, as well as institutional alignment with UP’s policies of Community Engagement and Social Responsibility, ensuring that the role of UP as an anchor institution is to be served and strengthened through these endeavours.
The UUC is overseen by an Advisory Board, as stipulated in University of Pretoria document S 3563/05. The role of the Advisory Board is to provide overall guidance, advice and direction to the UUC. The Advisory Board will be convened annually, with minutes lodged in the office of the Dean, and will consist of the following within the EBIT Faculty:
Dean (Chair of the board), Heads of schools, co-ordinator of the JCP module, chair of the Curriculum Transformation Committee and student representative from EBIT house, Dean of the Mamelodi Campus,Directors of centres involved with relevant research projects, HoDs of departments involved with relevant research projects and Key stakeholders as identified from time to time by the chair of the board.