40 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES ANNUAL REPORT 2021 Chair of the English department at Augsburg University brought 15 of his students to UJ in 2019 and the exchange programme will resume as soon as it is safe to travel. (ii) Prof Mngadi presented 2 webinars for the university of Madras and Central University of Tamil Nadu, both in India. These webinars were attended by MA and PhD research students at the respective universities; (iii) The English department was joined by Prof Marzia Milazzo, from Vanderbilt University, USA. We will be joined by Dr Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu this year, who is Zimbabwean and has taught at Stanford University. Visiting academics The department has not had visiting academics since the onset of the Corona virus in 2020, due to travel restrictions and safety measures/considerations regarding gatherings. Staff and student achievements (i) Four of our undergraduate and Honours students featured in the 2021 Faculty of Humanities Creative Reflections Competition: (ii) One of our Honours students, A. Ngobeni, came second; (iii) One of our second-year students, A. Gardener, came first; (iv) One of our first-year students, S. Rasephei, came first; and (vii) One of our first-year students, P. Moloto, came second. Plans for 2022 The English department is looking forward to 2022. We have planned to: (i) Enhance our teaching and learning by gradually re-introducing on-campus classes, where possible, and drawing on the successes of our online teaching. In the last 2 years, we’ve realised that online teaching can serve as an additional resource for our students, rather than an alternative to physical lectures; (ii) Our system of course co-ordinators for undergraduate, Honours, MA and PhD courses has worked very well over the years, to enhance the running of our modules and research projects. (iii) We have instituted a system of regular MA and PhD workshops, run by the co-ordinator, to keep our research students up to date with the best practices and methods of postgraduate research; (iv) Supervisors can work with external academics as co-supervisors of MA and PhD research projects. This has been necessitated by the lack of supervision capacity in the department, due to staff limitations. (v) The department is hoping to replace 3 staff members and to add to our existing staff compliment; (vi) Streamlining of teaching, research and administration is another area in which the English department will improve efficiency and the effectiveness of its teaching and research. Looking Ahead: new initiatives/projects (i) The English department is looking forward to returning to its postgraduate seminars and Top Achievers Awards, which have always been the highlight of our academic year, over many years. (ii) We are also looking forward to inviting top scholars and writers to interact with both staff and students; (iii) We are looking forward to strengthening our relationship with the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS), in the form of seminars, colloquia and, hopefully, a conference every now and then. (iv) We are looking forward to working closely with the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender and Class, which is headed by one of our staff members, Prof Victoria Collis-Buthelezi.
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