ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Prof Jonathan Jansen

Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University

Jonathan Jansen is Distinguished Professor of Education at Stellenbosch University and President of the Academy of Science of South Africa. He is a curriculum theorist, and his research is concerned with the politics of knowledge. His most recent book is The Decolonization of Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, with Dr Cyrill Walters). He started his career as a high school science teacher and holds a PhD (Stanford).

Thaaniya Isaacs

PwC Partner – South Africa

Thaaniya is a Partner at PwC, focusing on the Higher Education sector. Over the past 20 years, Thaaniya has served many industries, and among others, served as the Governance Risk and Compliance executive for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme during a time of high transformation in the entity when it experienced deep crisis in its ability to deliver on its mandate. In addition to being a Chartered Accountant, her core competencies include leading transformation projects, governance, forensics, robotics and process automation, as well as data analytics. She also participated in various task teams coordinated by the Department of Higher Education on issues affecting the sector.

Quintin Hawes

EdTech Specialist: PwC

Quintin is an Edtech Specialist, having started life out as a Geologist he soon realised that his passion lay in technology. He has held both technical, consulting and business roles within the technology consulting space over the past 20 years. Quintin has many years of Microsoft technology experience with a passion for solving business problems using technology. The education space is experiencing a monumental shift in how people engage and learn and he also considers emerging tech such as the Metaverse which could create sizable disruption in education with a particular interest in how emerging technology can enable education in Africa to leapfrog the status quo.