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Juanita Burjins joins USAf leadership team, contributing strategic expertise

04 May 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied

Juanita Burjins, Head: Leadership and Development in the Department of Human Resources at the University of the Free State, was recently appointed as a member of the Universities South Africa’s Leadership Management Strategy Group (LMSG). The appointment to the group in April 2023 is a testament and a recognition of Burjin’s leadership and expertise, not only in the field of human resources but also in the higher education sector.

The LMSG is responsible for initiating activities that would allow it to develop evidence-based influences on the work of Higher Education Learner Management (HELM), and to advise the board on the programmatic direction of HELM, including its financial sustainability and identifying opportunities for the growth and expansion of its post-school education and training.

As a member of the USAf Leadership Management Strategy Group – a position Burjins will hold for three years – she will contribute and provide strategic advice to the USAf Board, the Chief Executive, and the Director of Higher Education Leadership and Management, regarding planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Burjins said: “I was nominated by the Skills Development Facilitators Forum; in the group, I will be responsible for engagement and alignment with member universities and other key role players in terms of their leadership and management development needs.”

Beaming with pride, Burjins is looking forward to “working with a group of expert leaders within the higher education sector and contributing to enabling and empowering learning opportunities”.

“I am proud that I could represent the University of the Free State in this capacity and contribute to the stability and effectiveness of institutional leadership and management in the higher education sector. With the opportunity, I am also looking forward to providing strategic advice, advocacy, and tactical programme management support for HELM, and identifying potential national and regional collaborations and partnerships with other universities,” added Burjins.

Burjins believes it is important to have the USAf Leadership Management Strategy Group in higher education, as it provides ‘strategic advice to the USAf Board on the planning, implementation, and monitoring of HELM for the engagement and alignment of member universities in terms of the leadership and development needs as well as the relevance and responsiveness of programme offering and other services in leadership and development.

News Archive

Monkey research attracts international attention

2016-07-11

Prof Trudy Turner from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Prof Paul Grobler
from the Department of Genetics at the
University of the Free State, together with one
of the students researching monkey genes.
Photo: Siobhan Canavan

For this year’s Summer School programme, Prof Paul Grobler, from the University of the Free State Department of Genetics focuses on research about the conflict between monkeys and humans in areas where monkeys are regarded as problem animals.

Global expert part of research

This year, Prof Grobler is hosting a group of students and lecturers from the United States of America (USA). The group includes Prof Trudy Turner from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), a global expert on vervet monkeys. She has been working with the Department of Genetics at the UFS for the past fifteen years, and has also been appointed as an Affiliated Professor in the department.

“The Summer School programme is an opportunity for the American Primatology students to gain practical experience in Africa,” says Prof Grobler.

International interest in Summer School

This year’s Summer School programme involves four lecturers and nine students. The lecturers are from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Boston University, and Central Washington University.

“We use the genetic information to determine
how monkeys historically infiltrated the
different areas in South Africa.”

This year’s focus is on the genetic structure of the monkeys in South Africa, and research that is being done on the differences and similarities in monkeys from different areas. “We use the genetic information to determine how monkeys historically infiltrated the different areas in South Africa,” says Prof Grobler.

Local nature reserve acting as host

The group will perform field work, including observing monkeys in the Soetdoring Nature Reserve, as well as laboratory work in the department, where they will be assisted by two laboratory technicians.

Two years ago, Prof Grobler and his department tested this idea on a smaller scale, and now they hope to make this a regular event.

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