Mr Shahed Nalla, Vice-Dean and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg (UJ), has been awarded the Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) LEAD Fellowship.
The LEAD is a component of HELM, which serves as an entry point for professionals interested in a career in middle management within universities. The programme provides qualified individuals exciting opportunities to develop their experience, knowledge and skills, and to serve as middle managers in the university sector, while contributing to the development and advancement of their own institutions.
HESA has awarded 25 outstanding professionals in the middle management positions within South Africa’s university sector with exceptional qualities, and who exhibit management and leadership potential in their university and/or profession.
Of these 25 professionals, Nalla is the only professional from UJ to be awarded the fellowship.
The programme’s underlying aim is to provide enabling learning opportunities for the middle and senior managers to gain knowledge and skills with a view to navigating successfully the constant challenges of change and to interpret effectively the operational impact of internal and external drivers.
Mr Nalla began his academic career at UJ as an Anatomy and Physiology lecturer at the then Technikon Witwatersrand in January 1994. He was later promoted to senior lecturer in September 2011 and then to Vice-Dean in July 2012; reporting to the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Science. Central to his role as senior lecturer in the Faculty, is the provision of high quality, in depth and practically relevant teaching in all areas of human anatomy. In April this year Nalla formed part of a team of South African and international scientists from 16 institutions that published six papers in the prestigious journal Science, further cementing his professional leadership in the sciences.
“To be one of only 25 candidates to have been awarded the fellowship is truly an honour and a privilege; more so to be the only awardee to represent the University of Johannesburg. This is no doubt a great opportunity for myself and the institution,” he says.
