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06 May 2019 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Robin Thuynsma
Mr Nikile Ntsababa
Mr Nikile Ntsababa.

Mr Nikile Ntsababa took up the position of Registrar at the University of the Free State (UFS) on 1 May 2019. His appointment was approved by the UFS Council during its quarterly meeting on 15 March 2019.
 
“Mr Ntsababa is an experienced and knowledgeable university registrar with 10 years of senior management experience in institutional compliance, regulatory compliance, academic administration, and university records management. His history of senior roles in the higher-education sector has the advantage of a very good understanding regarding the dynamics, context, and challenges that the position of registrar brings,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.
 
He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Records and Archives Management from the University of Fort Hare, a Master of Public Administration from Nelson Mandela University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Fort Hare. Some of the further certification and short courses he has completed includes a Certificate in International Higher Education Management from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State in the USA, and a Compliance Management Certificate from the University of Cape Town. He is a Certified Ethics Officer.
 
Mr Ntsababa was Registrar at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) from April 2012 to April 2019; before that he was Deputy Registrar at CPUT from April 2009 to March 2012. He also served as Director of Governance at the University of Fort Hare from September 2007 to March 2009, and as Faculty Manager: Management and Commerce at the University of Fort Hare from January 2004 to August 2007.   
 
“I look forward to working at the UFS and to share my knowledge and experience of higher-education legislation and the associated regulatory processes, requirements, and trends in the higher-education sector,” says Mr Ntsababa.

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Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)

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News Archive

Teaching has always been in opera singer’s genes
2016-12-26

Description: Albertus Engelbrecht Tags: Albertus Engelbrecht 

Albertus Engelbrecht believes that his predecessor
and mentor at the Odeion School of Music ,
Peet van Heerden, prepared him wonderfully for his task
as Vocals lecturer.
Photo: Jóhann Thormählen

He has captivated audiences from Berlin to Los Angeles with his singing talent for 17 years. Yet, teaching has always been in his genes, and as a child Albertus Engelbrecht dreamed about teaching music someday.

Once, when the opera singer stood on the Free State flats during his MMus studies at the University of the Free State (UFS), he knew this is where he would come.

He has been employed as Vocals lecturer at the Odeion School of Music (OSM) since 1 July 2016 and is now ploughing back his knowledge for students he believes have an incredible passion for singing that is not found even in European vocalists.

Concerts in Los Angeles stand out
Engelbrecht was a lyrical tenor at the Landestheater Niederbayern in Passau, Germany, and was working with students as well as professional singers (in Nürnberg and later Passau). However, he was bitten by the teaching bug much earlier. “When I was a student at Stellenbosch (where he obtained his BMus degree at Stellenbosch University), I discovered I had a love for vocals training,” he says.

He has performed all over Europe and worked with famous conductors such as Philipp Augin (Los Angeles Opera). “The most impressive performance was the New Year concerts in Los Angeles, and specifically the concert in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, with fantastic architecture by Frank Gehry, and housing approximately 2 260 people.”

“When I was a student at Stellenbosch, I discovered that I had a love for vocals training.”

Big boots to fill at OSM
He achieved his master’s degree magna summa Cum Laude at the UFS and received the Fanie Beetge prize for the best postgraduate student. He studied for his master’s degree under Peet van Heerden, with Dr Matildie Thom Wium as supervisor.

Following Van Heerden’s retirement, Engelbrecht had big boots to fill. “The most important thing that I learnt from him as mentor was that the instrument of a vocalist is also the body and soul of that individual – to be able to see the human standing, singing before me.”

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