The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ), Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic, Professor Angina Parekh has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for a period of four years effective from 15 December 2018 to 14 December 2022.
Minister of Higher Education and Training (DHET), Mrs Naledi Pandor made the announcement, citing Prof Parekh’s vast knowledge and experience in the Higher Education sector as a motivating factor for selection.
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) was established by the Higher Education Act of 1997 as an independent statutory body. That Act conferred two major areas of responsibility on the Council. The first was the mandate to advise the Minister of Higher Education and Training (or the Minister of Education at the time) on all matters of higher education in order to further the goals of equity and quality in the system, and to help it respond to economic and social development needs, provide effective and efficient management and contribute to the public good. The second major responsibility was the establishment and management of an external quality assurance system for higher education, to be carried out through its permanent committee, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC).
Prof Angina Parekh is the Deputy Vice Chancellor: Academic at UJ. She qualified as a Clinical Psychologist having received her BA degree (1976, with majors in Psychology and Philosophy), BA Hons in Psychology (1978 – cum laude), MA degree in Clinical Psychology (1980) and D.Phil in Psychology (1988) from the former University of Durban-Westville. In 1983 she received a second MA degree (in Human Development) from the University of Kansas, USA.
In 2000, Angina Parekh was appointed Ministerial Advisor on Higher Education and a few years later she headed up the Department of Education’s Merger Unit, responsible for the restructuring and transformation of the country’s higher education system through mergers and incorporations. During her years with the Ministry of Education she contributed significantly to higher education policy, including the development and formulation of the National Plan for Higher Education, the proposals for the restructuring and transformation of the higher education landscape, the programme and qualification mix profile for universities and universities of technology, the policy framework for language in higher education, and the draft Higher Education Qualifications Framework.
