Institutional Operating Plan
2026-2030
Collective Futures
UWC’s Institutional Operating Plans serve as high-level strategic framework documents that articulate strategic objectives and priorities with supporting strategies towards the change that we want to achieve.
The process to develop the IOP 2026 – 2030 seeks to be a dynamic, inclusive process, designed to align our identified priorities for the period ahead with our institutional Vision.
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The IOP process will also build on various other institutional processes that are currently underway.
What is in a logo?
The Collective Futures logo expresses both rootedness and renewal—honouring UWC’s history while embracing transformation and growth. Collective, where planning is open, consultative, and deeply connected to broader societal challenges. The use of the plural “futures” signals our engagement with multiple, evolving possibilities. It reflects UWC’s values of justice, solidarity, and equity, affirming that transformation is a shared and co-created journey.
The logo reminds us that the University’s future is not singular, but interconnected with the futures of its people and its world. Above all, it represents a commitment to imagining and shaping a more inclusive, sustainable, and responsive tomorrow.
Vision 2035
By 2035, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) will be widely recognised as a leading research-led university, most notably for the nexus between its undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes and its research endeavour, its substantial place in key areas in the knowledge ecosystem, its keen focus on the public good and transforming lives, and its productive relationships and effective partnerships with universities and key agencies in Africa and beyond.