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New vice-chancellor for UCT
1 July 2018
AT THE HELM OF AFRICA’S TOP UNIVERSITY
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), Africa’s foremost academic institution.
Phakeng, or @FabAcademic (as she is known on Twitter), succeeds Dr Max Price, who led the institution for 10 years since 2008.
Announcing Phakeng’s appointment in March, Sipho Pityana, Chair of UCT’s Council, said he was confident that they had found a suitable and capable candidate in Phakeng – who is able to provide academic, strategic, transformational and ethical leadership and vision for the institution.
“We trust her to lead and manage the institution in pursuing its 2016-2020 strategic plan, which she was involved in developing,” Pityana said. “Both in the short time that she has been with UCT and during the recruitment process she has demonstrated the required senior executive leadership experience in higher education and an understanding of the operations and affairs of a university environment. She has both an ability to exercise academic leadership as well as a successful track record of strategic management.”
What also stood out, said Pityana, was Phakeng’s sound knowledge and understanding of the key challenges and opportunities arising from the changing higher education environment in South Africa and globally.
“She has a good appreciation of the possibilities that this situation presents for us. Her clear understanding of UCT as an African university, its developmental role, its commitment to deepen its links within the continent, internationalism, and pioneering, as well as the need to advance divergent critical knowledge systems make her a compelling choice as Vice-Chancellor.”
Phakeng joined UCT in July 2016 as full professor of Mathematics Education and on 1 January 2017 took over the reins as UCT’s Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and Internationalisation. She is a highly regarded B2 NRF-rated scientist with over 80 research papers and five edited volumes published and has been invited to deliver over 30 keynote/plenary talks at international conferences, and as a visiting professor in universities around the world.
According to the biography on her website, Phakeng has won numerous awards for her research and community work, including the Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa in April 2016. In August 2014 CEO magazine named her the most influential woman academic in Africa and in August 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Businesswoman of the Year Award in the education category.
Phakeng was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in November 2007; an honorary member of the Golden Key International Honour Society in May 2009 and an honorary life member of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) in July 2009. In 2008 she became the first South African black researcher to be appointed toco-chair a study commissioned by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction.
Commenting on the appointment, Phakeng said: “I am honoured to have been afforded an opportunity to lead one of the best institutions on the continent. I am particularly humbled by the overwhelming support that I have received within the university community. I know that the task that lies ahead is a mammoth one and I do not underestimate its complexities. In every challenge we face there are also opportunities. I also know that alongside all the members of the campus community, we will meet the challenges and reach even higher milestones as an institution.
“I will work tirelessly to enhance our cutting-edge research, which speaks directly to the challenges of our country, region, continent and the world. We will grow and develop talented academics, other staff and students from South Africa, elsewhere on the continent and internationally. I wish UCT to become a phenomenal international experience for our students, an experience that is profoundly embedded in academic excellence and that is uniquely African – an experience positively unforgettable. We will rethink curricula and make sure we broaden our pursuit of excellence in research, teaching and learning and in all our activities. There is a lot to do and I look forward to beginning this task.”
In June, UCT once again established itself as the top university in Africa in the 2018 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.
Three other African universities were also included in the top 400: the nearby Stellenbosch University, the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and The American University in Cairo.
