On 21 October 2025, the Unit for Experiential Learning, Centre for Student Life and Learning hosted the Experiential Educator Appreciation Lunch and Ubuntu Awards. This milestone moment affirmed the contribution of experiential educators and learning partners who design, lead, evaluate and recognise approved experiential learning initiatives across the institution. 

For eight years, Stellenbosch University has led the African continent in formally recognising non-credit-bearing experiential learning on the academic transcript. While this strengthened institutional legitimacy, the experiential educators are our unsung heroes. The Appreciation Lunch publicly acknowledged the experiential educators pedagogical care, partnership-building, and reflective practice, that contributes to the university’s Vision 2040: A Transformative Student Experience. 

The Ubuntu Awards were introduced as a values-anchored recognition mechanism, celebrating collaboration, inclusivity, community connection, and shared purpose. The Ubuntu Awards positions experiential learning as a human-centred practice, aligned with ethical graduate development and relational pedagogy. 

An afternoon of reflection and community 

The two-hour Appreciation Lunch and Ubuntu Awards blended reflection, storytelling, and recognition. Experiential Educators and student leaders shared narratives from their journeys, stories that illuminated capability development, intercultural engagement, and the ways experiential learning reshapes how students understand responsibility, belonging, and contribution. A circle of gratitude and shared meal strengthened connection across faculties, divisions, and centres. 

Strengthening legitimacy and identity 

Certificates and Ubuntu Awards acknowledged excellence in experiential learning design, partnership cultivation, inclusivity, and reflective practice. This formal recognition strengthens professional identity, elevates cross-faculty collaboration, and affirms experiential learning as integral to the university’s academic and transformational priorities. 

Establishing an annual Practice of Gratitude 

Beyond celebration, the event establishes a practice of gratitude, sustaining experiential educator motivation, supports retention, and embeds appreciation into institutional culture. It also reinforces Stellenbosch University’s continental and global leadership by modelling a distinctly African conceptualisation of experiential learning grounded in Ubuntu. 

The Experiential Educator Appreciation Lunch and Ubuntu Awards forms a moment of recognition; connecting community, affirming legitimacy, and establishes a practice of gratitude for experiential educators’ time, expertise and commitment  towards student success and transformative learning. 

Click Here for more on the experiential learning partners.  

Click Here to watch the video of the Appreciation Lunch and Ubuntu Awards