Second semester has just begun, and what were quiet campus grounds have again been reanimated. For those who were away in June and July, welcome back!

If you missed out on the excitement of the June graduation season, get the highlights here. At this mid-year celebration, 1 379 students qualified with 86 PhDs (read up on just one of them below), 53 master's degrees, 174 MBAs, 113 honours degrees, 197 bachelor's degrees, and 256 diplomas and certificates. They are just a small portion of students who will be graduating this year, the rest of whom will graduate in December 2015. (To give you an indication of how many more students are hoping to be hooded and capped later this year, 5 807 students graduated from UCT in December last year, in addition to the 1 509 students that June.)

As for what lies ahead in the rest of 2015, transformation at UCT remains central to university debates and decision-making. Whether you're a key contributor to these debates or someone who is still watching, listening and learning, take a moment to read the interview with Associate Professor Elelwani Ramugondo below - in which she speaks about the importance of truly hearing what people have to say (however uncomfortable it might be), and looking with fresh eyes at who sits around the decision-making table. She was recently appointed as special advisor to the vice-chancellor on transformation.

All the best for the term ahead.