The HELTASA Team
Get to know the individuals driving change in higher education.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board shall serve in an advisory capacity to HELTASA and provide strategic guidance to achieve the HELTASA’s mandates, goals, and objectives
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HELTASA Teams
Chair, Deputies and Administrator
Advisory Board
Coordinating Council
Rieta Ganas
I am an academic and educational developer based at the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development (CLTD) at the University of the Witwatersrand. I am involved in the conceptualisation, facilitation and co-ordination of professional learning programmes, courses and workshops for the academic staff in relation to learning and teaching, curriculum development, leadership and personal development. With a range of positions in educational leadership and management, I always foster people enhancement through a stronger sense of an authentic self. I currently serve as the Deputy Chair of the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA), a steering committee member of the New Academics Transitioning into Higher Education (NATHEP) and as a member on the National Co-ordinating Committee (NCC) for the Enhancing Framework. My scholarship interests lies in the field of academic development.
Prof Subethra Pather
Prof Subethra (Su) Pather is currently the Teaching & Learning specialist in the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She plays an important role in enhancing UWC’s student success initiatives. Prof Pather is UWC’s Siyaphumelela Lead for the Student Success project. She is Deputy President of HELTASA and forms part of the co-ordinating council working collaboratively with scholarly project managers to enhance teaching and learning in higher education. Prof Pather is manager of UWC FYE and Tutor Enhancement Programme at institutional level. Her research interests are located within the higher education field with particular focus on first year student transition, support, retention and success. Her extensive academic publications and academic presentations are located in this field. She is also involved in several national and international networks in first-year experience to advance student success in South Africa and her research agenda.
Dr Greig Krull
Dr Greig Krull an academic developer (Senior Lecturer) at the Centre for Innovation for Learning and Teaching (CILT) at the University of Cape Town. His current research focuses on academic staff development for designing blended and online learning in higher education, with a particular focus on academic professional learning and the use of data analytics to inform learning design and facilitation. He teaches on the Postgraduate Diploma and Masters in Educational Technology and several short courses. He holds a PhD in Education and ICT (eLearning) from the Open University of Catalonia (Spain) and an MCom (Information Systems) from Rhodes University.
Prof Kasturi Behari-Leak (PhD)
Prof Behari-Leak is the Dean of the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) at the University of Cape Town. She is passionate about working with academics at all stages of their trajectories to support, enhance, deepen and transform the way teaching and learning are conceptualised and practised in higher education. Her work in this area focuses on the exploring the interplay between structure (national, institutional, departmental and disciplinary) and culture and how this influences academics’ critical agency in the interest of change. She is a past president of the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) (2018-2021) and President of ICED (2021-2023). She is part of several national and international research consortia, focused on higher education and she has published in the area of higher education studies and decolonising pedagogies/ decolonising the curriculum.
Rose Masha
Dr Rose Masha is the Director for Accreditation at the Council on Higher Education (CHE).
Mr Shiba Diketane
Bio coming soon.
Nomfundo Siqwede
Bio coming soon.
Rosaline Govender
Dr Rosaline Govender is an Academic Development Practitioner in the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at Durban University of Technology. She has been working within the field of Academic Development since 2011. Her experience in academic development spans across student, staff and curriculum development. Her research interests include student success, professional learning, teaching and learning, academic development and gender issues. She has a Masters and PhD in Education from the University of Kwazulu Natal.
Mahlubi “Chief” Mabizela
The Director Operations and Sector Support at Universities South Africa, Mr Mahlubi Chief Mabizela is an accomplished Senior Executive with more than 16 years’ experience in the development and implementation of higher education policies. Mr Mabizela has been the principal author of the analyses reports of the higher education research outputs since 2007. Mr Mabizela has served on various governance structures including, being a Ministerial appointee in the board of the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), South African Council for Social Services Providers (SACSSP), South African Nuclear Human Asset Research Programme (SANHARP), was an Advisory Board Member of the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) of South Africa, acted as a Review Oversight Committee Member of the Mathematical Research in South Africa, and has been Strategic Advisory Committee Member for the Higher Education HIV and AIDS (HEAIDS) now Higher Health.
Robert Pardo Silva
I’m an educator, a practitioner, and in that role, I have worked in companies and educational institutions, including two years working for a foundation as the Principal of a school located in one Chile´s most socially disadvantaged areas. Currently, I´m the Director of the Learning Center at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and I also direct its Certificate (Diploma) in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. I´m really passionate about learning and educational development. I was for four years Director of the Chilean Network of Learning Centres, the first of its kind in Latin America, and in 2021 I became Vice-president of the International Consortium for Academic Development. I´ve got a degree in Linguistics from Universidad de Chile, a degree in Education from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, a professional degree in Psychopedagogy from Educares Institute, and a Master’s Degree in Cognitive Psychology and Learning from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Mary Kiguru
Mary Kiguru is a systemic change designer and a learning development expert. Mary designs and facilitates programs for Faculty/Academic Development through the Association for Faculty Enrichment in Learning and Teaching (AFELT, www.afelt.org). She is founder member of AFELT and serves as the Organization’s Secretary General and founder member driving the implementation of the Council’s vision in transforming Faculty Development across East Africa. Mary Kiguru is also the Country for Education for All Children – an Education-to-Employment Launchpad program, where provides strategic leadership for the organization in developing strategies to empower youth for the world of work. In her portfolio, she has designed the Education-to-Employment Bridge program that equips the scholars with requisite skills for the world of work.
Sandra Williams
Sandra Williams is the Acting Faculty of Business and Management Sciences Teaching and Learning Coordinator at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She lectures Law and Research Methodology as well as supervises at the postgraduate level in the Marketing Department. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Western Cape School of Government and an LL.M. from the same university. Sandra specialises in water governance, specifically water law, focusing on equity, efficiency, and sustainability. She has collaborated with other researchers contributing to ongoing research and training in the sector and established a wide network in the water sector in Southern Africa. She has extensive higher education experience and applies herself to curriculum development and related projects and activities