Prof Chika Sehoole

Prof Chika Sehoole  
Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria

Prof Chika Sehoole, a professor of higher education and the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria. He has been serving as Dean from 2016 until now. He obtained his PhD at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in December 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 the USA.

In 2005/06 he was a New Century Fulbright Fellow, again, at the same university. His research interests are in the areas of higher education policy, distance internationalization of higher education, higher education in Africa and globalization of higher education. 

Since he was first appointed as Lecturer at the University of Pretoria in 2001, Professor Sehoole rose through the ranks to become a Senior lecturer in 2003, an Associate Professor in 2007 and a Full Professor in 2016.

He has extensive management experience in higher education, having served as Chief Director for Higher Education Planning in 2007-2008; Chief Director Higher Education Policy in 2008-2010; the head of Department of Education Management and Policy Studies from 2011-2016, and the Dean of the Faculty of Education from 2016 to 2024. 

He has served in several international research projects focusing on higher education and providing expertise from the South African and African perspectives. In 2013-2017 he served as the Chairperson of the Board of the African Network for Internationalisation of Education (ANIE) and he is currently serving on its board.

He is an immediate past  chairperson of the Education Deans’ Forum of South Africa which he served from 2021 to 2024. He has three edited two scholarly books on higher education and published more than 40 articles in journal articles, book chapters and popular media.

He can be described as dynamic, visionary and thought leader in his field of expertise. He is able to turn ideas and vision into implementation plans.