The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of Pretoria (UP) recently hosted delegates from the American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Programme. The purpose of the visit was for ACE delegates to learn more about UP’s educational context, and the challenges and opportunities that relate to the University, particularly around leadership.

The ACE Fellows Programme offers accelerated leadership development, consolidating extensive experiential learning and skill acquisition that would typically span years, into an intensive one-year programme.

The visit to UP included discussions with the senior leadership of the EMS Faculty, a discussion with the faculty’s Department of Human Resources and a tour of the facilities on Hatfield campus.

Delegates from UP and American Council on Education in a meeting at the Council Chamber.

“It is important that we facilitate these discussions openly, because the visit is about learning different leadership tactics and understanding how different institutions deal with leadership,” said Prof Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Dean of the EMS Faculty. “We are delighted to host the American Council on Education delegates. We met some lovely people and we look forward to having possible future collaborations with them.”

“The objective of our visit was to meet leaders at UP, and learn about issues of transformation, inclusion, diversity and leadership,” said co-leader of the ACE travel cohort Dr Menah Pratt, who is Vice-President for Strategic Affairs and Diversity and a professor of education at Virginia Tech. “The amazing agenda and itinerary set up by the University accomplished that goal.”

The visit was concluded at the Interim Vice-Chancellor’s chamber, with representatives from both UP and ACE expressing a positive outlook regarding the insights gained and the potential avenues for future collaborative endeavours and strategic partnership.