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14 December 2022 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Supplied
Prof Serges Kamga
Prof Serges Kamga, newly appointed Dean: Faculty of Law.

The Council of the University of the Free State (UFS) approved the appointment of Prof Serges Kamga as Dean of the Faculty of Law for a five-year term during its quarterly meeting on 25 November 2022. 

Prof Kamga is a full Professor of Law currently working at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (TMS) at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

“Prof Kamga’s excellent research reputation nationally and internationally, his extensive networks and partnerships will contribute to further raising the profile of the Faculty of Law nationally, on the continent and globally.  As an established NRF-rated researcher, he will also be able to enhance the research output of the faculty,” says Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor. 

“Prof Kamga will lead and manage the Faculty of Law in support of the UFS’ Vision 130 and the ultimate intent for the coming years to be a research-led, student-centred, and regionally engaged university that contributes to development and social justice through the production of globally competitive graduates and knowledge, and that impactfully supports societal development,” says Prof Petersen.  

Prof Kamga is co-director of the Cross-Cultural Human Rights Centre at the Free University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. At times, he has acted as head of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute currently Thabo Mbeki School at UNISA and has had engagements at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Young African Leaders Initiative, and as managing consultant at African Legal Sources at the University of Pretoria. In 2021, he received the prestigious Ali Mazrui Award for Scholarship and Research Excellence from the University of Texas at Austin in the USA.

He holds an LLD degree in Human Rights Law from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Prof Kamga has also worked as a researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC). As a researcher, he has published in accredited journals and presented papers at various national and international conferences. 

“Prof Kamga’s experience in these positions, as well as his extensive knowledge and understanding of the South African and global law fraternity, places him in good standing to lead the faculty to become a formidable and impactful force nationally, on the continent, and abroad. He will also lead the faculty to exploit opportunities and deal with the challenges that the rapidly changing higher-education environment has to deal with,” says Prof Petersen.

Prof Kamga will assume duty on 1 February 2023.

News Archive

One of the UFS's newest members welcomed at international organisation.
2011-03-13

Photo: Gerda-Marié Viviers
Prof. Hussein Solomon

One of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) newest members of excellence was recently welcomed as a new member at the relatively new, yet influential, internationally renowned Our Humanity in the Balance (OHIB) organisation. Prof. Hussein Solomon, a month old Senior Professor in Political Science at the university, said he has always wanted to have made a difference in people's lives and dreamt of becoming part of an organisation such as the OHIB. Proofing of Solomon's dedication to his roots, he believes his focus must remain with the African continent. ''I would like OHIB to focus on making the secession process in Sudan as peaceful as possible as well as focusing on ending the ongoing conflicts in Somalia, the Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These are immediate goals. In the medium term we need to examine the issues of democratic transformation in countries like Swaziland and Zimbabwe.''

As this Kovsie has worked in peace NGOs, advised diplomats and acts as a serving officer in the South African Air Force and an academic, the compilation of the OHIB board consisting of academics, former senior diplomats and military people and peace activists would be nothing new to him. ''My role is essentially to bring these disparate communities together and to focus energies on a common project. At the moment much attention is being focused on current developments in Libya.''

Other accomplishments of this former Tuks lecturer include Visiting Professor at the Global Collaboration Centre at Osaka University in Japan, Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and also respective membership on the Security Council of the Gerhson Lehrman Group of Companies, the International Steering Committee of Global Action to Prevent War, and the International Advisory Council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research in Hawaii. Prof. Solomon was selected in 2008 to serve on the Nelson Mandela Chair of African Studies at Jawahrlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.

His current area of research expertise include conflict and conflict resolution in Africa; South African Foreign Policy; international relations theory; religious fundamentalism and population movements within the developing world. His publications have appeared in several countries around the world including Switzerland, The Russian Federation and Japan.

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