Page 16 - Unisa CSET Mid Year Highlights 2025 Digital

In 2006, I was appointed Dean of Information Technology and enrolled and completed my PhD in Information System in 2017 at Unisa with Prof Judy van Biljon and Prof Jan Kroeze as supervisors. This appointment equipped me furthermore with the skills to be a leader.
I believe in leading by example; thus, I was not discouraged by a brain operation I had to undergo in 2007. I was even more motivated to persevere with dedication and energy.
I started at Unisa on 1 April 2016 as lecturer and worked my way up in the last 8 years. My supervisors were also mentors in my journey to success.
I would describe my journey to becoming a Head of Portfolio: Head of Academic Quality Assurance in the College of Science and Engineering to my experience and willingness to assist. My experience in Higher Education over the last 30 years as well as passion for academia have equipped me to lead and transfer skills over to colleagues.
My experience gained through the Council of Higher Education also contributed to becoming the Head of the Portfolio. I started as an evaluator of programme at the CHE from 2004 and have been involved in different site visits and institution audits conducted by the CHE.
Balancing Research and leadership in the colleges
It is very important to live a balanced life, and the same principle applies to the balance between research and leadership. One way of achieving the balance is to plan properly. In order to be a leader, one need to lead by example, it is because of this, that I keep on doing research in my field of interest: eModeration user experience using eLearning systems, which involve the aspects of quality assurance. Research is the cornerstone of the leadership role. It is important for the Head of Academic Quality Assurance to continuously research what is happening in the space and to then convey the message over to fellow academics, ensuring growth and quality education.
To achieve the balance between research and leadership I am still supervising and publishing with students as well as fellow researchers, which enables me to lead with the latest developments in the space of quality education.
Are there any Unique challenges experienced by being a female leaders? If so, how have you learnt to overcome them?
Define tomorrow.
One of the challenges encountered as a female leader is cultural differences, for example, in some cultures women are not supposed to be in leadership roles or positions, which makes it difficult for people to then be lead. I have overcome the challenge by respecting these colleagues’ culture and we have worked towards a mutual ground of acceptance and respect.
Successes or wins that you want to share in your journey as a researcher and leader within the portfolio that you lead?
In the words of Nelson Mandela: “It always seems impossible until it is done”, I can honestly say that I never thought I would achieve these successes but, through the grace of God, the impossible was made possible!
Two successes that I can share, relating to my research journey are the days when I became Associate Professor and when I was NRF rated C3, which is a direct outcome of doing research.
Successes in the leadership role are the contributions not only at college level, but also at institutional level to enhance the office of quality assurance in general at Unisa.
During the Covid period we had to continue with what we did, specifically with programme review, so I recommended that we do it online, CSET was the first in the institution and we are still doing programme reviews online. Further successes are the templates which I created for programme reviews that have been rolled out and used in the institution.
Smaller successes are the moments when staff buy into the quality assurance culture and start understanding why we do what we do.
Any interesting projects that you are currently working on that you wish to highlight?
Currently I am working with my M and PhD students on projects to provide guidelines and frameworks for private and public education institutions in - and outside South Africa to implement user friendly learning management systems.
I am also involved in a project relating to Africanisation and how we can incorporate it into our curriculum and still being internationally relevant. In addition to the above, I plan to collaborate with fellow colleagues in Mauritius in the field of OEeL and user experience.
14