RHODES COMMUNICATIONS
Rhodes Business School Senior Lecturer, Professor Tshidi Mohapeloa has been unanimously elected by all 26 universities as the Deputy Chairperson of the national Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) Communities of Practice (CoP) for Entrepreneurship Learning and Teaching. EDHE is a unit under Universities South Africa (USAf).
The 3rd annual EDHE Kick-Off 2021 took place virtually in a three-day event from 24 to 26 March. The event was centred on encouraging entrepreneurship against all odds, which is the EDHE theme of the year.
EDHE Entrepreneurship Director, Dr Norah Clarke said the intention of the event was to engage with the champions for entrepreneurship development in universities about the past, present, and future of EDHE. During the three days, CoP members had the opportunity to elect a new chairperson and deputy chairperson for their respective CoPs for the duration of EDHE Phase 2. These meetings were well-attended, with representation of all 26 public universities across the different EDHE CoPs.
“I am pleased to congratulate Rhodes University on the election of Professor Tshidi Mohapeloa as Deputy Chairperson of the newly-established national EDHE CoP for Entrepreneurship Learning and Teaching. She will be working closely with Dr Thea van der Westhuizen, Academic Leader for Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as Chairperson of this CoP.
“It is envisioned that this particular CoP will play a leading role in advancing the national agenda for entrepreneurship teaching and learning in innovative and relevant ways. The EDHE team has worked with Professor Mohapeloa for a number of years. “We have complete confidence in her potential to lead this national CoP. We believe she has much to offer as she advances both the national and Rhodes University agendas within the field of entrepreneurship,” said Clarke.
Professor Mohapeloa said the main agenda of the programme is to develop the students’ entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviours towards entrepreneurship. “Durban University of Technology made it mandatory for all different units to have the entrepreneurship elements in their core. This is a good pilot process and we want to encourage all universities to adopt this attitude,” she said.
As a core convener, Mohapeloa said she has to bring in institutions to share with them what’s happening in their entrepreneurship teaching spaces and how this CoP can support them in three spheres: teaching on entrepreneurship, teaching about entrepreneurship and teaching for entrepreneurship.
“For Rhodes University, this is an elevation in terms of entrepreneurship development in higher education. We are known for taking the lead in the teaching and learning space. I am starting to look at how we can involve platforms the University is known for into this,” she concluded.
Professor Mohapeloa will serve as the Deputy Chairperson for the period of three years.
