What Values and Delivery Pillars Guide USAf's Work?

Updated

Universities South Africa (USAf) is the umbrella body representing the country's 26 public universities. Its work is guided by a stated set of values and "Pillars of Delivery," which sit alongside its vision, mission, and strategic objectives. The site presents these as the framework through which USAf pursues its vision of "Sustainable and Responsive Universities" and its role as "The Voice of South African Universities." Below is what the organisation says about each, and how they connect.

What USAf is working toward

USAf describes itself as a representative body that endorses "a comprehensive and equitable national higher education system that is responsive to the challenges facing South Africa." Its stated 2026 vision is built around strengthening public universities into "sustainable, efficiently and effectively operating institutions" — financially and socially sustainable, responsive to their immediate contexts, nationally relevant, and internationally competitive.

It pursues this through lobbying and advocacy, and by providing platforms where universities can debate common challenges, share best practices, and collaborate with other institutions and stakeholders.

The values USAf states

The website lists Our Values as one of its core framework sections, alongside Who we are, Vision and Mission, Strategic Objectives, and Pillars of Delivery. The available page content identifies the values as a named section of the framework but does not enumerate the individual value statements in the excerpt provided. Readers who need the specific value wording should consult the "Our Values" section directly on usaf.ac.za.

What the surrounding text does make clear is the character those values are meant to reflect:

  • Representation — USAf is "the mouthpiece of all public universities," ensuring university views are heard in public debates.
  • Collaboration — it facilitates platforms for universities to debate common challenges and share best practices "among one another and with various stakeholder groupings."
  • Equity and responsiveness — it endorses a higher education system that is "comprehensive and equitable" and responsive to South Africa's challenges.
  • Service to society — it promotes "cohesive but diverse public universities in service of society."
  • Thought leadership — it influences role players and provides commentary and advice on national legislation and policies.

The Pillars of Delivery

Our Pillars of Delivery is listed as a distinct section of USAf's framework, sitting between its Values and its Vision and Mission content. These pillars are the delivery mechanisms — the areas of work through which the values and strategic objectives are translated into action. The available page content names the section but does not list the individual pillars in the excerpt provided; the specific pillar descriptions are published in that section of the site.

How values, pillars, and objectives fit together

The framework can be read as a chain:

Layer Function
Vision The end state: sustainable and responsive universities
Mission The role: representing, advocating for, and supporting public universities
Strategic Objectives The priorities that direct effort
Values The principles that govern how USAf works
Pillars of Delivery The workstreams through which objectives are actually delivered

The values set the standard for conduct — collaboration, representation, equity, service — while the pillars describe where that conduct is applied. The strategic objectives sit between them, converting the vision into priorities that the pillars then carry out through projects and programmes.

Why this matters if you are trying to understand USAf

If you are a student, researcher, journalist, or institution trying to work out what USAf actually does, the values and pillars are the clearest signal of its self-defined role. They show an organisation that positions itself less as a regulator and more as a convenor and advocate: bringing the 26 public universities together, representing their collective view in national policy debates, and supporting them to respond to national challenges.

To see the full value statements and the complete list of delivery pillars, go to usaf.ac.za and open the "Our Values" and "Our Pillars of Delivery" sections, which sit alongside "Who we are," "Our Vision and Mission," and "Our Strategic Objectives."