University of Pretoria gets new VC. His hallmark is consensus

Seven years after being welcomed to lead a campus in the judicial heartland of South Africa, Professor Francis William Petersen, the vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), is moving to the country’s administrative capital as the new vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Pretoria (UP), one of Africa’s leading research institutions.

Petersen will undertake the great trek of 456km from the Free State’s farmland to Jacaranda City’s Tuks, as the 116-year-old UP is known.

His leadership style involves a willingness to listen, hear and decide. This approach has proven effective in his past roles, particularly as the acting vice-chancellor at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he had to navigate the tumultuous #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall protests that erupted in 2015.

Petersen takes over from Professor Tawana Kupe, who resigned suddenly on 31 July 2023, although his term was supposed to end in January 2024.

Petersen brings a distinguished record of academic leadership and a wealth of experience in higher education to his new role. Widely respected and with a diverse background in engineering, finance and educational management, Petersen is expected to lead Tukkies into a new era of innovation and excellence.

He has been vice-chancellor at the 120-year-old UFS, also known as Kovsies, since 1 April 2017, and he was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2022.

Educational journey

His educational journey is marked by notable achievements, including a bachelor of chemical engineering, a masters in metallurgical engineering from the University of Stellenbosch, and a PhD in engineering.

Petersen has held various academic positions throughout his career at the University of Stellenbosch, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Cape Town and the University of the Free State. His academic prowess is complemented by a wealth of leadership and management experience from the business world, where he has advised government ministers on science and technology.

During an hour-long interview with University World News on Monday following UP’s announcement of his appointment on Friday 31 May, Petersen, the engineering-trained son of a school principal, who was born in Oudtshoorn and matriculated in Malmesbury, said hearing and listening have served him well as a leader.

Measured in speech and accessible to the media, Petersen is also chairperson of Universities South Africa (USAf), the country’s influential 26-member varsity body for vice-chancellors.

Reflecting on his tenure at UCT during escalating student protests, Petersen shared how he was compelled to listen and understand before responding. This approach, a habit he carried to UFS, underscores his ability to navigate challenging situations tactfully and empathetically.

His role at UFS

At a triumphant welcoming function in the Callie Human Centre at the Bloemfontein Campus on 19 May 2017, Thabang Sepeame, president of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union at the UFS at the time, welcomed Petersen with “peace and love” and “Amandla”.

“You came at the right time when the university needs a person of your calibre in its leadership and management. UFS falls within the higher education sector in South Africa, which is very fragmented and currently under a lot of strain,” he said.

Sepeame laid bare the national cry for transformation, a great need to speed up the process, and for the new incumbent to address burning racism on campus.

Stressing the need for peace and harmony and calling for an end to the favouritism of white students over blacks, Sepeame set the tone for Petersen’s tenure, urging transformation and advancing workers’ rights on campus.

At the time, Petersen thanked all constituencies for the clear direction they gave him and his leadership team, pledging: “This is to be engaged, to listen, to hear, and then to decide.”

Before starting work, he engaged with students, staff and community members in Qwaqwa, a UFS campus about 300km from the main campus in Bloemfontein, which is in South Africa’s Free State province. He met the Paramount Queen and the rural communities and village chiefs in this vast rural landscape. The queen is from the Bakoena Royal Family, part of the Basotho who live in this area.

“What I picked up in Qwaqwa was the people’s humbleness. It brings you back to the earth. I also realised the massive responsibility that we, as the University of the Free State, must play in uplifting the society and the region.”

He also engaged with the larger community of Bloemfontein, meeting school principals and top achievers from communities in Bloemfontein, including taking in Africa’s largest agricultural exhibition, NAMPO, in Bothaville.

A consistent message emerges: He wants to contribute to the institution, to this region, to this province, and create a sense of belonging, caring, hospitality, and working together. This message applies to UP as well.

Ironically, Professor Johan Grobbelaar, the president of the convocation when Petersen took over at UFS, predicted a seven-year term for Petersen.

“We must develop the ability to listen and hear and then decide in the right direction. We must develop the ability to unlock our diversity,” says Petersen.

Over the past week, news of his impending departure spread rapidly after UFS Council Chairman David Noko thanked Petersen for his contribution.

He said Petersen’s tenure was characterised by remarkable leadership, and the council greatly appreciated his work and the university’s achievements.

He said the commitment to excellence, inclusivity, innovation, academic freedom, a particular focus and emphasis on critical enquiry, social responsiveness, and integrity were the value characteristics through which Petersen led the UFS.

“He led the university through challenging and complex times – not only for the institution but also for the higher education sector – with a primary focus on and commitment to stakeholder engagement. He brought stability to the university and emphasised the institution’s visibility and its impact on society.”

Embarking on a new journey

In a statement, UP’s Kuseni Dlamini, the chairperson of the University of Pretoria council, welcomed Petersen on behalf of the university community with “great enthusiasm” in his new role.

Petersen is confident he will leave a UFS well-positioned for growth and is grateful for the support and collaboration he had from the university community.

He says he is looking forward to the new journey. While many are probably sad and some may be disappointed at his leaving, it was a time for renewal in leadership, and seven years was a good stint for him as the vice-chancellor.

Petersen said he was honoured to join UP and committed to advancing the university’s mission of academic excellence, research innovation and societal impact.

The UFS council will appoint an acting vice-chancellor and principal to serve in this position from 1 October 2024 until a new incumbent is appointed.

Looking ahead at a new challenge

However, Petersen is committed to hearing and listening while building consensus with all players on campus.

In a short Q&A with University World News, Petersen shared his vision for UP.

UWN: Tell us about your background and how it shaped you as the leader you are.

FP: Growing up on a farm school in Oudtshoorn [a town in the Western Cape province] for the first six years and matriculating later in Malmesbury [also in South Africa’s Western Cape] influenced my upbringing. I wanted to ensure that education with varying experiences was a pillar. It was a good place to grow.

The fact that I have studied engineering and chemical engineering and did my masters and PhD in metallurgical engineering, to a certain extent, shapes one’s thinking – it’s very results-driven and certainly helps me tackle challenges. I want to understand how things work first, then assess it and develop solutions.

If you look at my career, I worked at a university of technology, various universities, and science councils, was an adviser to multiple ministers in science and technology, worked with government departments such as Science and Technology and Minerals and Energy, and worked in industry for a multinational company. This allowed me to have a view of how all the different sectors of the economy operate and how they could interact and engage with one another.

UWN: UP is a relatively stable university. There were ructions around the departure of the previous vice-chancellor and a few skirmishes on campus around other issues. What is your vision for UP?

FP: Indeed, it is a very stable university and the largest residential university in South Africa. Many things are happening in the institution and, sometimes, you need a period of consolidation and recalibration.

One must examine what’s working well and what’s not working and try to get it right and strengthen that. Otherwise, one continues adding to the challenges.

I have already started some research, but I will aim to continue hearing, listening, and identifying areas I need to focus on to achieve stability.

But, in essence, where we want to take the University of Pretoria, includes a few areas.

I want UP to be a leading research-intensive university in Africa that produces good quality work that is relevant and impactful and then makes a difference in the lives of people in society in South Africa and globally. That’s a vision that I fully support.

UP has a robust undergraduate programme focusing on student success. I will try to see what areas we could improve on, try to make it focus on the digital transformation (inclusive of artificial intelligence) a little bit more, look at the students’ voice and bring that into the curriculum more, and then look at scaling students’ success and try to see to what extent we could contribute UP graduates to be global citizens.

And then there are two areas: as South Africa, we as South African institutions, as well as other public institutions, have been very quiet on micro-credentialing. How do you respond to the quick shift in curriculum development and renewal that universities often find difficult to move fast on? The second is that private higher education has dramatically increased in South Africa. And I don’t see them as competitors. I do see them: how can we work together?

You know, to increase access, obviously, but to ensure that we provide quality education, how can we learn from one another?

A key emphasis would be repositioning the University of Pretoria globally as an African institution.

So, the three critical areas are competitive undergraduate teaching and learning, which I just talked about. The second is the global positioning of the university. The third is about institutional culture – diversity, inclusion, care and belonging, respect and integrity. That’s something that we must never lose sight of. I don’t think we should ever say we have arrived as any institution in South Africa on institutional culture, and that will always be a crucial part of my focus.

UWN: Given that UP is solid and financially strong, do you see that coming under pressure as government subsidies continue to decline?

FP: All institutions will come under pressure, including UP. Having a solid reserve and a strong balance sheet does help. However, my argument is that, whatever the administration oversees, an institution – in this case UP – as custodians, we must make it a better institution and add to the financial stability and reserves of the university.

My approach would be to decide whether we are practical and efficient in running our annual budget and whether we are effective and efficient in the short to medium term.

In the face of declining subsidies, we must look at other ways to remain financially sustainable. Even if you have a substantial reserve and a strong balance sheet, it is always good that you have that to back you up if there are critical challenges but, I don’t foresee that we should go and tap into that; we should rather say we need to be building on it to ensure longer-term sustainability.