Media statement by Alan Khan, Senior Director: Corporate Affairs at the Durban University of Technology
The Durban University of Technology will confer an honorary Doctor of Technology Degree in Arts and Design to Professor Njabulo Ndebele in recognition of his outstanding contributions to education, literature and public service. Prof Ndebele will receive his honorary doctorate during DUT’s graduation ceremony on Monday April 16 2012 in Durban.
He holds an MA in English Literature from Cambridge University and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Denver.
DUT joins universities in The Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States who have similarly honored him. Other honors include Fellow of the University of Cape Town, Honorary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University, and the National Research Foundation’s (NRF) Life Time Achievement Award.
Professor Ndebele has served higher education in executive leadership at several universities for two decades, his last major appointment being Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Cape Town, following his position as Scholar-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in New York.
His classic Fools and Other Stories won the Noma Award for the best book published in Africa in 1983, and his novel The Cry of Winnie Mandela was published to critical acclaim in 2003. His book Rediscovery of the Ordinary brings together his seminal and highly influential essays on South African literature and culture. Fine Lines from the Box: Further thoughts about our Country, followed. He continues to contribute to public discourse through thoughtful and probing commentaries in major South African newspapers.
Last year he participated in the Time of the Writer Festival held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and visited schools in Durban with other writers to stimulate interest in literature among young people.
Professor Ndebele is Chair of Idasa (the Institute for Democracy in SA ) and the MTN SA Foundation, and is a trustee on the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mandela Rhodes Foundation, and the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust.
Professor Ndebele is currently a Research Fellow in the Archive and Public Culture Initiative in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cape Town.