An invitation to present at the CHE conference 2025 – How team work makes the dream work!

The annual Council on Higher Education (CHE) Conference was held in February 2025 at the Birchwood Hotel in Johannesburg's East Rand. Centered around the theme “The State of Quality of Higher Education in South Africa Three Decades into Democracy,” the conference provided a timely space for critical reflection and dialogue. A key highlight for our group was the acceptance and presentation of three abstracts, which marked a significant milestone in the development and visibility of our collaborative project.

The gathering served as a time to reflect and consider the importance of a project like ours and the kind of impact it could make. Sobering discussions were had all round about the state of Higher education and the challenges it has faced and overcome over the past 30 years. For the project, the conference demonstrated true teamwork, as all the co-authors attended and actively supported each other's presentations.

A big congratulations to all the co-authors but especially those who presented at the conference. Dr Mabvira did a fantastic job presenting the findings of a systematic review study that he has been doing in collaboration with Professor Zibonele Zimba titled “Recommendations for Course Redesigning and Rethinking in Alignment with the Elements of Authentic E-learning for Quality in Higher Education”. The larger group of co-authors including, Professor Pillay, Professor Perumal, Professor Sithole & Professor Aghardien gave an excellent presentation on “Redefining Quality in Higher Education through Engaged Scholarship”. Our research assistant, Spha Mathebula gave a fun & enlightening presentation on “The Importance of Storytelling in Creating Engaging and Impactful Educational Podcasts for Quality in Higher Education” based on her work on the Social Work Khuluma Podcast.