The University of Johannesburg (UJ) will host the inauguration of its new Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala on Monday, 26 March 2018.

The hour long event, which includes an address by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Ms Naledi Pandor is scheduled to start at 18:00 at the University’s Kingsway Campus.

In attendance will be invited guests in academia, government leaders, business leaders and representatives from labour and civil society.

Prof Marwala succeeded Prof Ihron Rensburg on 1 January 2018 and since then stood determined to lead the University into a new era of education.

Prof Marwala made headlines when he developed a new artificial intelligence machine that could change the way we treat diseases. His remarkable work has garnered more than 45 awards, including the Order of Mapungubwe, the highest award given by the South African government for outstanding achievement. He is the youngest recipient of the award, and his name now appears alongside those of South African luminaries, such as former recipient Nelson Mandela.
 
He has an extensive track record in human capacity development and has supervised 47 Master’s and 23 PhD students to completion. Some of these students have proceeded with their doctoral and postdoctoral studies at leading universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, British Columbia, Rutgers, Purdue and Waseda  – many of whom will be at the Inauguration event.
 
But, the face of higher education and subsequently the way in which universities will have to be managed have changed significantly. Prof Marwala, as part of his inaugural address,  will reflect on transformation, equity, access and  pan-Africanism when he shares his vision to equip students to be dynamic participants in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
 
I trust that you will be able to attend.
Would you kindly let me know what your requirements are in terms of interviews, opportunities for photographs, etc.
Prof Marwala and Minister of Higher Education and Training, Ms Naledi Pandor will be available for media interviews, but these need to be arranged with me  prior to the event.

You will be required to present this invitation to gain access to the designated parking area.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further enquiries.
 
RSVP: Herman Esterhuizen (contact details below) on or before noon on Monday, 26 March – in order to arrange parking and seating arrangements

Prof Tshilidzi Marwala became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg on 1 January 2018.
 
His village school in Duthuni in the Tshivhase region of the Limpopo Province was little more than a few rickety benches under a tree and when rain or cold weather descended, classes were often abandoned. With limited access to books and experienced teachers, and the need for him to herd the family cows and goats in his spare time, the odds were heavily stacked against him.
 
In his matriculation year, he entered and won the National Youth Science Olympiad and was sent to the United Kingdom to attend the London International Youth Science Fortnight. He used this opportunity to visit the University College of London and Oxford University, where he gained an appreciation of the importance of engineering and science for the development of modern society.
 
Determined to make a difference in his own country, he decided to follow a career in engineering. He was awarded a scholarship by the Educational Opportunities Council to study mechanical engineering at Case Western Reserve University in the USA, where he graduated magna cum laude in his class. In 1995, he was employed at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research as a project engineer. He then obtained his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pretoria, in 1996. Between 1997 and 2000, he went to the University of Cambridge to complete a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, after which he became a postdoctoral research associate at the University of London's Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, where he worked on intelligence software.
 
On his return to South Africa in 2001, he took up a position at South African Breweries, before joining the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand as Associate Professor and Head of Control and Systems Group.
 
He is an accomplished scholar and academic par excellence, and now holds the position of Vice-Chancellor at UJ. Before his appointment as Vice-Chancellor and Principal, he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg.
 
Prof Marwala made headlines when he developed a new artificial intelligence machine that could change the way we treat diseases. His amazing work has garnered more than 45 awards, including the Order of Mapungubwe, the highest award given by the South African government for outstanding achievement. He is the youngest recipient of the award, and his name now appears alongside those of South African luminaries, such as former recipient Nelson Mandela.
 
He has an extensive track record in human capacity development and has supervised 47 Master’s and 23 PhD students to completion. Some of these students have proceeded with their doctoral and postdoctoral studies at leading universities, such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, British Columbia, Rutgers, Purdue and Waseda.
 
He has published eleven books, over 280 papers in journals, proceedings, book chapters and magazines, and holds three international patents.
 
He is an associate editor of the International Journal of Systems Science (Taylor and Francis Publishers) and has served as a reviewer for more than 40 ISI journals. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, University of California at Berkeley, Wolfson College of University of Cambridge, and Nanjing Tech University. He has also been a member of the Programming Council of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Silesian University of Technology.
 
Through hard work and personal application, this young South African from a rural community has excelled in his chosen field of study, broken through boundaries and is now on the cutting edge of his profession.
 
By realising his childhood dream of contributing to the development of his country and continent, he has become a living example of what liberation means for personal and national development.
 
Mr. Herman Esterhuizen
Manager: Media Liaison
Strategic Communications
Telephone: 27 11 559 6653
E-mail: hermane@uj.ac.za
Website: www.uj.ac.za
Office: 255, Maropeng Building, Doornfontein