Innovation

Introducing the Fab Academic

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng isn’t your 'textbook' academic and she’s painting the UCT vice-chancellor role with her own, colourful brush.

14 February 2019

Every morning during the 2018 year-end exams, University of Cape Town’s vice-chancellor professor Mamokgethi Phakeng – or @FabAcademic as she’s known on Twitter – posts words of advice and inspiration for the close to 15 000 students currently studying at UCT.

It’s no surprise then that students have dubbed her their ‘Deputy Mother’. While she may have embraced this maternal role when it comes to her students, among her peers, she’s the equivalent of a stick of dynamite – pint-sized, but potent and totally turning the tertiary education space on its head.

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