University of the Western Cape

Liz Archer is a qualified Educational Psychologist with a PhD in Assessment and Quality Assurance. She started her career in academia as a researcher and project coordinator at the Centre for Evaluation and Assessment at the University of Pretoria. From 2011-2017 Liz was employed at the University of South Africa as a Specialist in Institutional Research. Currently, she is the Director of Institutional Research at the University of the Western Cape.  Liz is also an Extraordinary Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria (2017 – 2019). She has spent 18 years in training and consulting in education and research, particularly Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis.She is a well-published author and a rated researcher with the South African National Research Foundation (NRF). She has authored over 30 published, peer-reviewed articles and chapters, attracting over 370 citations. She has been the recipient of many prestigious scholarships, including the South African Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD); Advanced Research Capacity Initiative; National Research Foundation and the SKYE fellowship. She is an active supervisor with multiple Doctoral and Masters students under her guidance. She an Associate Editor for the journal, Frontiers in Quantitative Psychology and Measurement.  She regularly reviews articles for national and international journals including International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, South African Journal of Education, South African Journal of Higher Education, Perspectives in Education, African Journal for Research in Mathematics Science and Technology Education, Progressio and School Effectiveness and School Improvement. She has also presented conferences and guest lectures all over the world in countries such as New Zealand, Portugal, Malaysia, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritius, Austria, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe.

University of the Witwatersrand

Mxolisi Masango is the Head of the Analytics and Institutional Research (AIR) Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). He holds a PhD degree from the University of Pretoria. Mxolisi started his career as a Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), where he spent more than 10 years developing diagnostic assays for veterinary diseases in the field of toxicology. During this time, he led multiple research projects, secured several research grants and published numerous peer-reviewed articles in local and internal journals. After leaving the ARC, he joined Wits where he is currently involved in various institutional research activities as well as student success-focused projects. Mxolisi is the Project Leader of the Wits Siyaphumelela project, a Kresge Foundation funded project. In addition, Mxolisi has been an active member of SAAIR and has hosted, together with his unit, the 2018 SAAIR Learner Analytics Workshop.

UNISA

• Higher Education experience – 39 years
• Institutional Research experience – 32 years
• Current position: Senior Specialist: Institutional Statistics & Analysis and Acting Director: Information & Analysis in the Department Institutional research and Business Intelligence, Unisa
• On Steering Committee for SAAIR 1993-1994, Founding member of SAAIR in 1994
• Contributed as Executive member of SAAIR
• Distinguished member of SAAIR since 2006
• Regular contributions and presentations of papers at SAAIR and AIR
• Published several articles and chapters in books in the field of Institutional Research
• Contributed to professional development as organiser, presenter and facilitator, e.g. HEMIS Institute, IR Institute

SAAIR Office

Carin has served as the Office administrator for may years and comes from a background in Higher Education, having worked at Unisa for some time.

She has extensive experience in office administration, event management and financial management and plays a key role in the functioning of the Association.

Carin lives and works in Stellenbosch.

Tshwane University of Technology

Ms Liile Lekena-Bayaga started her career in higher education as a teaching and research assistant and a Junior Lecturer at the University of Lesotho. She then occupied the post of Academic Development Officer and Evaluations Consultant at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of the Witwatersrand respectively.  She later joined the Tshwane University of Technology as an Institutional Researcher and subsequently a Quality Advisor specialising in Surveys and Institutional Research, which she still holds. She has published significantly in accredited journals both locally and internationally.

Namibia University of Science & Technology

Manager: Business System, Data and Processes – Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) Experience in Higher Education: 24 years Career Statement: “Never lose your sense of wondering” I’m humble and confident, trustworthy, and willing to learn. Knowing when to play and when to work has become something I live on.

Objective and Purpose

To reach an optimum level in life where one is fully motivated and confident as a result of being an expert in a particular field and that I am proud to participate in.

My vision for SAAIR in the line of promoting institutional research, training and development, and the exchange of information:  For SAAIR serve as a partner and platform to collectively address and best practice, in the context of an effective Institutional Research unit in each institution of higher education

University of Zululand

Researcher/Business Analyst with more than five years of experience contributing to rigorous analysis of actionable information which has been structured analytically and contextually in order to measure organisational performance against strategic and operational targets and thereby to support management, decision-making and planning and, in particular, the attainment of organisational goals and effectiveness as juxtaposed against the external environment, global trends and international benchmarks.

Stellenbosch University

Allison Mlitwa is a research officer in the Division for Business Intelligence at Stellenbosch University. She sees her role in IR as helping users gain confidence in engaging with institutional data by making it more accessible. She believes that the democratisation of data can expedite decision-making and uncover opportunities. She enjoys seeing users grow in confidence in their use of institutional data. For her IR has a significant role to play in the transformation of higher education. Her vision for SAAIR is to strengthen our capacity to care by widening and strengthening our SAAIR community by including more voices as we seek to improve higher education. She is continually confronted by the question –  if we are in the business of education, what is our bottom-line?

IDSC Consulting

• Current role – Chief Executive Officer
• Responsibilities – Servicing 22 Higher Education Institutions in the area of MI, BI, analytics and decision modelling through the HEDA system
• Extensive experience in Systems and Web Development, including the implementation of comprehensive decision support and business intelligence systems for the purposes of institutional planning and decision making, mainly in higher education
• Past President of SAAIR and currently serves on the Exco of the association
• He has presented a number of papers at international and local conferences in the area of decision support, business intelligence and computer modelling. He has also been part of specialized task teams looking at the implementation of BI and MI functions within higher education institutions