ENGAGE 19 – Higher Education Professionalisation
Higher education professionalisation refers to the systematic efforts to develop and enhance the skills, knowledge, and competencies of all staff ...
ENGAGE 18 – Advancing Early Career Researchers and Scholars
The Advancing Early Career Researchers and Scholars (AECRS) programme addresses the needs of emerging academic researchers in the South African ...
ENGAGE 17 – Looking back at the future
To what degree have our universities, stabilised, matured and reoriented themselves towards a fundamentally altered world harbouring vastly dissimilar educational anticipations? ...
ENGAGE 16 – Shaping the Future: a systemic focus on early career academics
Here's the video recording of the session - Building the pipeline. Exploring these issues was a stalwart leader of the ...
ENGAGE 15 Resources – Transformation at our universities
Here's the video recording of the session - The state of transformation in South African universities. The Transformation Oversight Committee (TOC) ...
Masculinities at university – Resources
Resources: Recording of the ENGAGE. Powerpoint - Masculinities at University The fascinating discussions in the Chat are here.
Masculinity at universities
Given the high levels of gender based violence in South Africa generally and in our universities in particular, there is ...
ENGAGE 13 – Resources
To those who attended our 13th ENGAGE gathering, we appreciate your participation and involvement. Even if you were unable to attend, ...
ENGAGE 13 – Engaging Northern hegemony
In the Academy of Science of South Africa newsletter of 29 March 2023, Professor Jonathan Jansen bemoans, in the context of ...
ENGAGE 12 – Resources
Here is the video recording of the session - The student-centred university. In this ENGAGE, we examined a recently released research ...
ENGAGE 11 – Resources
Coaching Coaching is an integral component of HELM's leadership development approach and its bespoke interventions. In this ENGAGE, we made ...
Academic advising is a critical determinant of student success
Academic advising plays a critical role in improving the success rate of students, and in advancing social justice. This was ...
The valuable lessons learnt during South Africa’s Academic Advising journey
Students want to be empowered to drive their success towards achieving their own academic and career goals. This is where ...
ENGAGE 10 Resources
Embedded below is the recording of the session. The engagement took the form of a presentation by Professor Francois Strydom, ...
ENGAGE 10
Academic advising: A catalyst for student success. Academic advising, nationally and internationally is recognised as a key high impact practice ...
ENGAGE 9
Mark Barnes recently sent out a tweet saying President Cyril Ramaphosa must appoint the 100 best people to fix the country. ...
University, what university? The praxis of 4IR in higher education
At the recent Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) ENGAGE #8 event, blended learning, critical thinking and leadership attributes received ...
ENGAGE 7: Internationalisation
Even before the pandemic, internationalisation of higher education had become much more than joint degrees and exchanges, with a knowledge drift ...
Reigniting the Internationalisation of Higher Education in South Africa
While the CoVID-19 pandemic prevented students from going overseas to study because of travel bans, it did create opportunities for ...
An advocacy for global learning for all and internationalisation in an African context
Internationalisation in higher education is entering a new and critical phase in which it has to become more inclusive and ...
Towards improving the mental health of students at South African universities
Findings of one of the largest student mental health surveys ever undertaken in the world – which was initiated by ...
A focus on the mental health of staff at SA universities
Not enough attention has been paid to staff at South Africa’s universities when it comes to their mental health. However, ...
ENGAGE 6: Mental health at our universities
For a traumatic event, like Covid-19, to be assessed and processed, normally requires that it is over. But as ...
ENGAGE 5: Digital Ideation
From the usual registration woes in February 2020 to empty lecture halls, deserted campuses, hollowed out residences, Covid-19 ushered in ...
ENGAGE 4: What it Means for Deans
HELM, in conjunction with the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg hosts the fourth ...
WiL 2023 compendium
Download the Compendium and find out more about the programme and the 2023 participants.
Women in Leadership (WiL) Programme – 2023 launch
Reflect and learn as a leader and change agent at your own institution The sound of the late Tina Turner’s What’s ...
Emboldening women’s leadership in the university: WiL Certification Ceremony
Opening with a live and rousing version of “Celebration” performed by the Two Tone band, The Women in Leadership (WiL) Programme ...
WiL 2022 – A compendium
The inaugural Women in Leadership (WiL) programme was launched in the middle of a pandemic (September 2020) and the second WiL ...
WiL Gallery 2020
The first cohort of 26 senior members of staff from 17 universities participated in the 2020 WiL programme. Based on ...
WiL Programme sessions
The inaugural Women in Leadership (WiL) programme was launched in the middle of the pandemic (September 2020) and was necessarily ...
News and views
This section provides a catchment area for news, brochures, academic articles and other material related to the WiL programme. News ...
WiL Programme evaluation
The British Council and USAf co-commissioned M&ESURE Research and Evaluation to undertake a review of the WiL pilot programme (2021) ...
The WiL team
Prof Denise Zinn is the HELM Programme Leader for the Women in Leadership Programme. Previously she held the positions of ...
Bolstering student success in South African Higher Education through Student Affairs Leadership
In a significant boost for South Africa's higher education sector, a third cohort of 47 senior managers from 17 universities has ...
SASS Opening ceremony
Increasing student success via Student Affairs professionalisation: SASS 2025 is launched Developed by Universities South Africa’s (USAf) Higher Education Leadership and ...
Advancing student affairs to transform higher education in South Africa
What is relevant, effective and impactful Student Affairs, Student Support and Development for holistic student success, and how does it ...
Collaboration between academic and support staff is key to student success
South Africa’s higher education institutions are unique; they exist within varied financial, socio-economic and historic contexts. However, within this diverse ...
Universities South Africa’s second Student Affairs and Student Success cohort begins their leadership programme
Wednesday, 14 August saw the Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) programme launching its second intake of the Student Affairs ...
2023 SASS Compendium
Collaborating with relevant stakeholders in the sector and key associations, like the South African Association of Senior Student Affairs Practitioners, HELM ...
Inaugural SASS programme is an overwhelming success, with applications set to open during December for 2024
When Professor Sibusiso Chalufu first heard about the launch, this year, of the inaugural HELM (Higher Education and Leadership Management) ...
Career advancement for SASS participants
They are the graduating class of 2023 – the 51 participants in the inaugural SASS (Student Affairs Student Success) programme ...
A SASS peer learning group examines the effect of NSFAS funding on student experience of higher education
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has been in the headlines recently with its former CEO fired over “breach ...
Rationale for the inaugural Student Affairs and Student Success (SASS) capacity development programme
Student success is not coincidental and access without support is not a true opportunity for students in our universities. This ...
Universities’ Student Affairs, Development and Support Staff urged to identify as professionals, practitioners and knowledge workers
Upskill. Stay current. Read. And, most importantly, start seeing yourself as a professional practitioner whose multi-disciplinary expertise makes you as ...
New SASS programme hailed as a forerunner in professionalising universities’ Student Affairs and Support Services
It was with a sense of achievement that Dr Sibusiso Chalufu (right) praised a milestone programme designed to herald in ...
Student Affairs and Student Success – Registration open
Call for Applications: Professionalisation Programme for South African Higher Education Student Affairs, Student Support and Development Personnel Universities South Africa’s Higher ...
Picture this: a Foundation of Leadership technique
From 26-28 November 2025, Higher education and Leadership (HELM) held its regular Foundations of Leadership (FoL) run for Academics and ...
Comings and Goings
'Comings and Goings' is HELM’s occasional newsletter. These updates are purposefully meant as ‘forthcoming attractions’ rather than as a list ...
HELM SUMMIT 2022 Resources:
- Download the Summit report.
- View the HELM SUMMIT 2022 on YouTube channel.
(It contains all the recordings of the Summit sessions for those who may have missed a particular session.) - Dr Seale and Prof Dolores Guerrero on the composition and function of HELM and CCAS.
- Dr Muki Moeng on her leadership journey.
- Prof Denise Zinn in conversation with WiL alumni.
- Dr Jason Bantjes on mental health in South African universities.
- Dr Charl Davids on student mental health.
- Dr Randhir Auluck on leading and managing change at universities.
- Dr Bernadette Johnson on coaching.
- Prof Morris Mthombeni on partnerships in higher education.