GSB&L Academic Delivers Keynote Address at York

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Professor Kriben Pillay from the UKZN Graduate School of Business & Leadership presented a keynote address to the Nursing Curriculum Development Team in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York in November.

He was invited by Dr Janaka Jayawickrama, an Associate Professor in Community Wellbeing, and he was hosted by Ms Devi Nannen from the Nursing discipline. The address was entitled The Illusion of Solid and Separate Things: Troublesome Knowledge and the Curriculum, and was offered as a basis for transformative inquiry in matters pertaining to the curriculum

In a letter to Pillay, Dr Jayawickrama wrote: ‘We thank you for the valuable seminar you conducted for the Nursing Curriculum Development Team in our department yesterday. According to our colleagues, they found the seminar inspiring and felt that this experience facilitated them to examine transformative thinking in their curriculum development process. We expect this established relationship will continue to flourish and we will be able to achieve successful outcomes in the future.’

In a separate letter, Ms Devi Nannen wrote: ‘The seminar that you delivered was timely as we are currently at a crucial stage in the development of a new nursing curriculum, incorporating the new education standards. In this, inclusion and internationalisation are two integral concepts, through which we are trying to promote care and compassion across cultures through our nursing graduates.’

Pillay responded and said it was difficult taking what at first appears to be a counter-intuitive perspective to another discipline and to unpack core concepts in an hour.

‘However, the feedback that was shared with me from some of the group shows that there was a positive resonance with my address, but some felt that more time should have been allocated to allow more in-depth engagement,’ said Pillay.

Ms Nannen was hopeful that Professor Pillay would return to run a workshop in the near future for the Discipline that was at least a day long.

Words: NdabaOnline