Dr Azwinndini Tshivhase

1. Positions

1. 1. Executive Director: Department of Academic Planning (2023).

1.2. Acting Vice Principal: Teaching, Learning, Community Engagement and Student Support (15 August 2025)

2. Qualifications

    1. Secondary Teachers’ Diploma (First Class Pass): English and Biology (1981-1984) - Venda College of Education.
    2. Bachelor of Arts: Education and Communication (1986-1991) - University of South Africa.
    3. Bachelor of Education: Education Management (1993-1994) - University of Pretoria.
    4. Masters of Education: Multiculturalism (1995-1996) – University of Johannesburg.
    5. PhD – Title: Policy development and implementation (2008) University of Pretoria.
    6. Certificate in Education Management (Fontys Hogescholenen (University), The Netherlands, (1999).
    7. Community Colleges Administration Programme (2019), Santa Fe Community College, Florda State, USA.
    8. Facilitating Online Teaching and Learning (2021). University of Cape Town.

3. International exposure

From 2005 to 2008 Unisa management delegated him to deliver and participate in New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) projects and initiatives in Africa. This gave him an opportunity to travel to various countries in Africa such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sudan, Botswana, Namibia, Kenya,  and Ghana. He has also assisted university on open and distance education management and administration training/workshops like National Open University of Nigeria, Zimbabwe Open University, Women’s University in Africa (Zimbabwe) and Sudan Open University, and Egerton University in Kenya. He has presented at both national and international conferences in Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, and Netherlands). As one of the curriculum drivers for online learning system at Unisa, he participated in the Sakai conferences and travelled to USA (San Diego, Washington, Florida) to report on usage of Sakai at Unisa. As part of driving Unisa from distance education institution to open distance entity, Unisa sent him to Open UK to study and review the systems. He has also spent time in Athabasca University in Canada to learn about online assessment systems.

4. Higher education

He has worked at various higher education institutions such as Vaal University of Technology (Senior Lecturer), Council on Higher Education (Senior Manager: Standards and National Reviews), University of Zululand (Director Academic Planning and Quality Assurance), Office of the Chief Justice (Director Curriculum Development and ELearning), Department of Higher Education and Training (Director/Accounting Officer) based at Limpopo CET College. In 2019, he was delegated by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Ministry to undertake a study visit and benchmarking the Community Education College’s model in USA, Florida State. The intention was to submit to the Minister of DHET a community education model to be followed in South Africa. Due to Covid-19 the project could not be implemented and completed. In June 2022 he re-joined Unisa as a Curriculum and Learning Development Specialist/Education Consultant in the Directorate of Curriculum Development and Transformation. On 01 August 2023 he was appointed as Executive Director – Academic Planning in the Portfolio of Teaching, Learning Community Engagement Student Support at University of South Africa (Unisa). He manages and leads Unisa Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) with about 463 programmes/qualifications funded by Department of Higher Education accredited by Council on Higher Education (CHE), registered by South African Qualification Authority (SAQA), and professional bodies. Unisa management requested him to be an Acting VP TLCESS from the 14 August 2025.