The 2018 HELTASA conference organising committee is incredibly excited to introduce our Keynote speakers for the Dancing on the waves of teaching and learning waves of change in Africa HELTASA conference at Nelson Mandela University on 20 – 23 November 2018. We are confident that the keynote speakers will make a valuable contribution to the theme and associated rhythms of the conference.
Professor André Keet
Prof André Keet is the current Chair – Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET) at Nelson Mandela University and is acknowledged as a leading figure nationally in studying, facilitating and guiding transformation within Higher Education.
Prof Keet was appointed as Chairperson of the Ministerial Oversight Committee on Transformation in South African Public Universities by former HET minister, Dr Blade Nzimande. This is one of several human rights and higher education sector organisations that he serves on.
The former teacher, social justice researcher and academic was most recently the Director of the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice at the University of the Free State, an advisor to the Vice-Chancellor and Rectorate, and Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for External Relations and Student Affairs at the same institution. Between 2000-2011 Prof Keet was Director, National Centre for Human Rights Education and Training, South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC); Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SAHRC; a Commissioner on the Commission for Gender Equality; and Director – Transdisciplinary Programme at the University of Fort Hare.
Prof Keet’s commitment and passion towards human rights, social justice and democracy development makes him a popular keynote speaker and a prolific writer of scholarly publications. He holds several editorial positions, contributes to the processes of the National Research Foundation, supervises and acts as an external examiner for masters and doctoral studies and is extensively connected – from grassroots organisations through to his links within the structures of the African Union and United Nations.
Dr Chrissie Boughey
Dr Chrissie Boughey is Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic & Student Affairs at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. Before taking up the position of DVC, she was Dean, Teaching & Learning at the same University. Chrissie has a long history of working in Academic Development at three universities in South Africa: the University of the Western Cape, the University of Zululand and Rhodes University.
Rhodes University offers a doctoral programme in Higher Education Studies. Chrissie has been involved in the programme since its inception and has supervised more than twenty doctoral studies to completion, all but one focusing on some aspect of AD. She has continued to research and publish in spite of the positions she has occupied in academic leadership structures and is the co-author, with her close colleague Sioux McKenna, of a book to be published shortly which looks back on change (and non-change) in South African teaching and learning from 1994 onwards.
Over the years, Chrissie has developed a number of increasingly sophisticated theoretically informed accounts of the trajectory of AD in South Africa. She has been able to do this because of the work she has done at a national level serving on, for example, a Ministerial Reference Group for Academic Development and various task teams and working groups looking at mechanisms such as the Teaching Development Grant. She is a member of USAf’s Teaching and Learning Strategy Group and Chair of the National Benchmark Tests Steering Committee.
Her work in higher education extends beyond the boundaries of South Africa. In recent years, she has served on five international panels reviewing universities in the Gulf region. She has also been involved in two projects funded by the Dutch Government and the European Union intended to improve postgraduate supervision and enhance the contexts in which postgraduate students study. With SANPAD’s Doctoral Programme, she worked extensively in countries such as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique.
From 2019, she has been appointed by HELTASA via the UCDG to support the organisation in building its capacity for a sustainable future. The project is intended to strengthen and ensure the sustainability of HELTASA’s role as a key player in as teaching and learning in South Africa.
Additional information regarding the 2018 HELTASA conference, including the call and submission of abstracts and registration costs and procedures, are available on the conference website. Any updated information to the website will be tweeted using the hashtag #HELTASA2018. Please keep an eye on the HELTASA social media pages, such as Facebook and the official HELTASA Twitter handle @Heltasa01.
We look forward to dancing with you on the teaching and learning waves of change in Africa.
The 2018 Conference Committee at Nelson Mandela University
