Vice-Chancellor of the Africa Leadership University (ALU), Prof. Nhlanhla Thwala, has assumed the chair of the Executive Steering Committee of Africa Health Collaborative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. He takes over from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s Prof. Ellis Owus-Dabo, whose tenure ended on October 25.
In his acceptance speech during the closing of the 2nd convening of Africa Health Collaborative in Kumasi Ghana, he outlined three areas of focus: research, pillar support, and student support.
“We’ve built this for two years; we want continuity, not discontinuity. I’m coming to implement collective decision-making. Everything we do must be evidence-based. Evidence-based decision-making means that it is valid and we can proceed with it.
“We are very determined to support our pillars: entrepreneurship, employment, and ecosystem. So, we need to see results in terms of our impact. Because if we don’t produce results, we can’t secure funding in the future.
“During my tenure, I will stay very close to these pillars to support them in achieving the agreed-upon programs. “If you’re developing the next generation of leaders, you have to give them responsibility but also give them support. But overriding all of these is collaboration. We need to understand that we can achieve greatness only if we collaborate. If we work alone, we will lose,” he explained.
Profile of Prof. Nhlanhla Thwala
Prof. Nhlanhla Thwala began his career in 1986 as a high school teacher in his native Eswatini after completing a BA in History and English, and a Diploma in Education. In 1990, he earned an MA in Linguistics from Syracuse University. In 1994, he completed a PhD in Formal Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
His post-doctoral career began at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he served as a Visiting Scholar and Coordinator of the African Language Program from 1996 to June 1998. He then spent 16 years at Wits University, Johannesburg, from June 1998 to May 2014, holding various positions, including founding Head of the School of Literature, Language and Media (2001-2003) and Director of the Wits Language School (2007-2014). He also served as a Researcher at SOAS while on sabbatical at Wits (2004-2006).
In 2014, he left Wits and joined Advtech (one of the largest JSE-listed private education companies in South Africa) as Head of the Institute of Independent Education (IIE). Subsequently, he joined Pearson South Africa as Managing Director of CTI Education Group (a higher education company acquired by Pearson in 2013) in September 2014. During this time, he also served as the Academic Director of Pearson Institute of Higher Education from 2016 until his departure in September 2020.
Nhlanhla’s education professional career spans 34 years. After beginning as a High School teacher, he returned to the University of Swaziland in January 1997 as a Teaching Assistant in the English Department until June 1998.
During his graduate studies, he worked as a teaching assistant at Syracuse University and UCLA. He also held Summer Teaching roles at Yale University (1993), Boston University (1994), and Ohio State University (1996). In 1998, he joined Wits as a Lecturer and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1999 before his appointment as Head of the School of Literature, Language and Media in 2001.