FORMER PRINCIPAL AND VICE CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA).
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, UNISA.
Professor Mandla Stanley Makhanya served as a Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA) from 01 January 2011 until 31 December 2020. Prior to being appointed as a Principal and Vice-Chancellor, he was a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the same university. He is a prominent proponent of higher education leadership and advocacy. Professor Makhanya is an Ambassador of Magna Charta Observatory (MCO). He is past President of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE). He served two terms as a Treasurer of the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE), and he is now their Goodwill Ambassador. Professor Makhanya also served as President of the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL). With this background, he has a thorough knowledge of higher education trends in both the developing and developmental higher education contexts.
Professor Makhanya has always been firmly of the view that the humanities and the sciences are mutually inclusive and that one will not achieve its full potential without the other. As an internationally acknowledged leader and scholar in distance education and a sociologist by training, Professor Makhanya is qualified to justify and advance this view. Since his retirement from the Institution of Higher Learning as Principal and Vice Chancellor, he was appointed by the President of South Africa to serve as a Commissioner of the Public Service Commission.
QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING
Doctor of Philosophy: University of Pretoria
Master’s degree in Sociology: University of KwaZulu Natal
BA (Hons) in Sociology: University of Fort Hare
BA: University of Fort Hare
Post Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education: University of South Africa
Advanced Management Program (AMP): Harvard University
HONORARY
Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa): University of Athabasca, Canada. In recognition of outstanding leadership at Unisa and sustained contribution as a distinguished scholar in distance education.
Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa): Thomas Edison State University, USA.