A warm welcome to our newest member of the JET Board of Directors.
Professor Chika Sehoole, a former JETSetter, whose association with JET goes back to 2006-2009 when he worked as a Project officer for the Joint Education Trust, is the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria (UP). He obtained his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2002. In 2003/4 he was a visiting Rockefeller Post-doctoral Fellow at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Champaign. In 2005/06 he was a New Century Fulbright Fellow at the same university.
Professor Sehoole began his academic career in 2001 as a lecturer at UP. In 2003 he was promoted to senior lecturer and became an Associate Professor in 2007. He was the Head of the Department of Education Management and Policy Studies in the Faculty of Education from 2011until his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Education in June 2016.
Between 2007 and 2010, Professor Sehoole was seconded to the National Department of Education where he served as Chief Director: Higher Education Policy and Development Support and Chief Director: Higher Education Planning and Management Support.
Professor Sehoole is an NRF-rated scientist whose research interests are in the areas of higher education policy, internationalisation of higher education, higher education in Africa and the globalisation of higher education. He has participated in several international research projects focusing on higher education, providing expertise from South African and African perspectives. Author of one scholarly book and editor of three others, he has over 40 publications on education in scholarly volumes, accredited journals and popular media.
He has served on several Boards of education institutions including the Board of the Institutes of Higher Education in Mpumalanga, the Board of the Institute of Education in the Northern Cape, the Board of the South African Qualifications Authority and the Board of the Higher Education Quality Committee. In 2013-2017 he served as the Chairperson of the African Network for Internationalization of Education (ANIE), and he is currently serving on its Board. He is also the current chairperson of the Education Deans’ Forum of South Africa.
Prof Sehoole joins the JET board of directors this January 2023 - a welcome addition to the JET family.
Prof Sehoole's appointment follows Prof Brian Figaji's retirement from the JET board at the end of December 2022, after 22 years of service. Prof Figaji ensured JET followed the narrow path of good governance at all times and he will be missed by the management team, staff and fellow Board members for his wisdom, guidance, and unwavering support of a just education system.
