Prof Dianne Manning has been reappointed as the Deputy Dean for Teaching and Learning, in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Prof Manning has served as Deputy Dean since 1 October 2012.

Prof Manning has contributed to a number of noteworthy causes: advancing the teaching and learning product for health sciences in the Faculty, achieving the institution's strategic goals, enhancing its reputation, and advancing health profession education in the region as well as nationally and internationally. The support and success of students across a range of activities and projects has been core to her role in the Faculty. Student finance is a key area of concern and Prof Manning has significantly assisted Health Sciences students by negotiating and collaborating with various institutions for a variety of funding programmes.

Prof Manning is an active contributor to the operations of a number of organisations with the goal of improving health professions education and thus population health locally and globally. She was recently invited to assist with the establishment and teaching on the fellowship programme in Shenyang, China and has been a consultant to the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa on assessment methods and has thus been ideally placed to have an impact of the quality of post graduate assessment as well as undergraduate education.

The successes of Prof Manning's previous term include:

Reorganisation of the Faculty teaching management structures including establishment of a Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee and strengthening the support for teaching development such as the Education Development and Innovation (EDI) clickUP module and the Training in Education Development and Innovation (TEDi) programme

Promotion and support of the scholarship of teaching and learning in the Faculty resulted in a number of new education research projects aligned with UP strategic goals including hybrid learning, curriculum transformation and contribution to the social and economic development of the country.

Revision of Faculty undergraduate and postgraduate admission and selection policies led to improved access for underrepresented communities. 

Negotiation and implementation of the UP-Discovery Standard Bank Loan Guarantee Fund to assist medical students with guaranteed study loans, successful implementation of the Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Project (ISFAP) in the Faculty and establishment of new bursaries such as the Afrocentric Health bursary for African female medical students.

Chair of the organising committee for the 2015 international health professions education conference of the Network: Towards Unity for Health in collaboration with the South African Association for Health Educationalists (SAAHE).