Sizwe Mabizela (Prof)

Vice-Chancellor
Rhodes University

Professor Sizwe Mabizela is the Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University and a Professor of Mathematics.

Prior to assuming this position in November 2014, he served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic and Student Affairs at Rhodes University from 2008 to 2014.

Professor Mabizela’s research interests are in Approximation Theory and Applied Functional Analysis. He received his PhD in Mathematics from Pennsylvania State University in 1991. He has authored and co-authored a number of research papers which have been published in international journals. He has also presented a number of keynote/invited addresses at national and international conferences.

Between 1992 and 2003, Prof. Mabizela was an academic in the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, where he rose through the academic ranks to the level of Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department. In 2004 he was offered and accepted a Chair in Mathematics at Rhodes University.

For a number of years, Prof. Mabizela was a member of the South African Mathematics Olympiad Committee. In July 2014, he Chaired the 55 th International Mathematics Olympiad which was held at the University of Cape Town, the first time this international mathematics competition had ever been held under the African sky.

Prof. Mabizela served as a member of South Africa’s Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, Umalusi, from 2006 to 2014, and serving as the Chairperson of the Council from 2010 to 2014. Mabizela has also served on a number of Ministerial Advisory committees and Task Teams on various aspects of education.