While academic departments are ready to roll out academic plans for the new year, the Directorate of Institutional Planning and Research (DIPR) and the Strategy Development Task Team (SDTT) are busy with the facilitation of the MUT Strategy 2026-2030. It will have taken two full years to compile this important document when it is unveiled in January 2026, in line with a recommendation that strategy development should commence 18 to 24 months before its implementation. Dr Liile Lekena-Bayaga, acting Senior Director, Institutional Planning and Research, said that at MUT, this process began with extensive preparatory work which started in January 2024, followed by formal engagements from July 2024 onwards. Among some major steps of the journey, will be May – June 2025, which will be the “approval of the strategy and implementation plan to Council.
From January 2025, DIPR will commence stakeholder engagements which they plan to finalise by March-April 2025 followed by advocacy and publicity initiatives until December 2025. The official launch and implementation of the new strategy is earmarked for January 2026. Dr Lekena-Bayaga said that so far, consultations continue to ensure that all stakeholders can contribute meaningfully. “The strategy is still morphing through the valuable inputs of stakeholders, building on the initial work of the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, who is the Chief Strategist, and her EMC (Executive Management Committee) team,” said Dr Lekena-Bayaga.
Inputs, even outside formal consultations, can be sent to Dr. Lekena-Bayaga, the Director of Strategic Planning and Acting Senior Director of DIPR, at [email protected]
Explaining the road ahead, Dr Lekena-Bayaga said that all approvals for the strategy and its accompanying implementation plan would be completed by June 2025. “This timeline ensures that, from July onwards, the MUT community has ample opportunity to familiarise themselves with the new strategy and implementation plan,” said Dr Lekena-Bayaga.