Mr Temba Hlasho
Executive Director: Student Affairs 


The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) had approved the appointment of Mr Temba Hlasho as Executive Director: Student Affairs for a five-year term. Mr Hlasho assumed duty on 1 July 2021.

He has extensive experience in the student affairs environment. Mr Hlasho has been the Dean of Students at the University of Zululand since 1 November 2019. Before that, he had been the Director of Student Affairs on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus. His career in higher education had spanned 25 years, beginning at the then Port Elizabeth Technikon as Head of a student residence in the 1980s. Before being appointed Head of Residences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2014, he had been the Director of Student Residences at the Vaal University of Technology. He completed a BCom degree at Vista University in 1994 before qualifying with an MPhil from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2006. At that time, he was pursuing a doctoral degree in sports sciences.

"Mr Hlasho had valuable experience in leading and providing strategic direction to student service divisions and had developed, reviewed, and implemented departmental strategies. He had worked in senior management and had interacted to a large extent with student structures and the Student Representative Council, through which he had gained appropriate experience to understand student dynamics, intersectionalities, and the complexities of the higher-education sector," said Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

His vision included enabling and supporting learning and living environments, professionalising Student Affairs, promoting and ensuring social justice, social cohesion, and critical diversity, strengthening student governance and engagement for academic success, and aligning funding to prioritised activities that supported the academic project. "These were all critical areas that would ensure the establishment of a productive and transformative environment for an excellent student experience," said Prof Petersen.

"My goal was to build open dialogue relationships with student bodies to understand better their plight, which would then be used as a leveller for enhanced positive working partnerships with colleagues in finding effective student solutions. I looked forward to joining the UFS and further developing the Student Affairs portfolio," said Mr Hlasho.

He holds a fifth Dan black belt in judo and is an executive member and President of Judo South Africa.
 
Contact:
Office Manager: Vees Sewsanker 
+27 51 401 2852
SewsankerA@ufs.ac.za