The South African higher-education landscape has changed considerably in the past year. This is evident in the student protests on various campuses around the country.

We do not know what lies ahead, but what we should realise is that our roles as practitioners in marketing, advancement, and communication have changed considerably.

Not only did the protests test the ability of university management to deal with the magnitude and intensity of students’ actions, but it also tested our crisis communication plans and strategies, and the ability of the sector to adapt. We do not know what lies ahead, but what we should realise is that our roles as practitioners in marketing, advancement and communication have changed considerably.

The MACE national workshop presented at Wits in March 2016 provided a good platform for discussions. Discourse on this and other issues affecting higher education and technical vocational education and training sectors in the country will take place during the 2016 MACE Directors’ Symposium next month.

Differentiation is becoming a challenge, as the similarity of our environments are increasingly becoming evident. The up-side of this is that we have been granted the opportunity to rightfully take our place among the decision-makers of our institutions.