THE UNIVERSITY OF WITWATERSRAND
The transition to a completely digital university Having described his leadership style as “ transformational ,” “ strategic ” and “ visionary ,” it comes as no surprise that Mpofu has ambitious plans for the digitalised future of the University .
“ I want my university to be a digital university . I want to get to a stage where everything is paperless and exams are done online . I want to get to a situation where students do not need to be inside the university to get things done , everything could be done online ,” said Mpofu .
Expanding on his drive to become a wholly digital university , Mpofu explained he hoped that one day the university ’ s intake capacity would not be restricted by the capacity of the university ’ s buildings .
Instead , he hopes , through technological innovation , the university will be able to offer places to students regardless of their location , with the option to work completely remotely from other countries , even continents .
Shedding light on the multitude of benefits this could bring , Mpofu said : “ I also look at that as something that will bring more income . And when I think of a digital university , I ' m thinking we may not even need residents as they have access from wherever they are . So I ' ll save costs on building and I will save costs on security to look after the students and save costs on people that have to go and clean the university residents buildings .”
What is clear , through his visionary plans and innovative thinking , Mpofu is set to and will continue to , digitally transform The University of Witwatersrand .
Mpofu himself says how different he hopes universities will become in the future : “ My digital university is a totally different model from the current model and I ' m sure in the next 50 years universities are not going to be the same .” technologymagazine . com 325