Prof Adam Habib offered Wits VC post

Current deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg Professor Adam Habib is set to become the new vice-chancellor of the University of Witwatersrand, the institution said on Saturday.

"It is an honour for Wits to offer this position to Professor Adam Habib, whom we believe has the capacity, professionalism, and credentials to lead Wits into the future," Wits Council chairman Saki Macozoma said in a statement.

The university has formally made the offer to political science professor Habib and will now negotiate on his contract and starting date.

Macozoma said the university hopes that Habib will have some time to work alongside Loyiso Nongxa, the current vice-chancellor whose term expires at the end of May 2013, "to ensure an efficient transition".

In his statement of intent to the university, Habib said: "My interest in this position is inspired by the vision of Wits University which through its research, teaching and public engagement develops high calibre graduates and faculty, and cutting edge knowledge to address the challenges that face South Africa, Africa and the world.”

Habib is the deputy vice-chancellor of research, innovation, library and faculty co-ordination at UJ.

Habib studied at the University of Natal (now the University of Kwazulu-Natal, the University of Witwatersrand, and the Graduate School of the City University of New York. 

He has held academic appointments over the last decade at the Universities of Durban-Westville and Kwazulu-Natal and the Human Science Research Council (HSRC). Prior to being appointed to his current position at UJ, he served as the Executive Director of the Democracy and Governance Programme of the HSRC. Before that, he was the founding director of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) and a research professor in the School of Development Studies at the University of Kwazulu-Natal.

He has served on the Board of a number of organisations, and has been co-editor of both the social science academic journal Transformation and the official disciplinary journal of the South African Association of Political Science, Politkon.