Professor Yusuf Karodia the founder and principal of Southern Africa-based private distance education institution MANCOSA, has been voted Africa’s greatest visionary in the development of higher education.
The African Leadership Magazine has unveiled the 8th Edition of the Annual African Leadership Magazine Persons of the Year 2019.
Each year, African Leadership Magazine hosts the prestigious annual African Leadership Persons of the Year Award under various categories.
Professor Karodia was nominated for the Person of the Year 2019 – Educational Development Award. This award is open to an African who has contributed to the growth of education and deepening knowledge. It is also reserved for a member of the academia whose research or policy has contributed to shaping his or her country’s economic growth and development.
Professor Karodia received the highest number of votes in this category. Other nominees for the coveted title were Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, Nigeria, and Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Bablola University, Nigeria.
The Publisher of African Leadership Magazine, Dr Ken Giami, said the ALM Persons of the Year Award attracted global attention and nominations from across Africa, as well as the African Diaspora, galvanizing conversations about Africa Now and the continent’s future.
He commended all the nominees and winners in the various categories, adding they had been selected by Africans out of the over 1.2 Billion people on the continent, as those most deserving of this exclusive recognition.
Professor Karodia established MANCOSA in 1995 as a post-apartheid empowerment institution offering affordable and accessible management education primarily to persons previously denied access to postgraduate education.
In 2002, MANCOSA received accreditation for its programmes from the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), the quality committee of the Council on Higher Education (CHE).
Today MANCOSA is a leading provider of management programmes through supported distance learning in Southern Africa. It has in excess of 10 000 students currently enrolled on its programmes.
MANCOSA has grown nationally as a registered and accredited higher education provider of distance learning programmes that are benchmarked with leading international business schools. The result is a recognised educational qualification that ranks among the best available today.
In August 2019, MANCOSA’s School of Education was launched, a game-changing teacher training institution which will produce educators who are agile and responsive to providing a compelling learning experience in any environment.
The School of Education aims to revolutionise traditional classroom teaching in a complex school education landscape through bespoke teacher training programmes.
Apart from replacing cost-prohibitive higher education with affordable price, Professor Karodia is also a great philanthropist.
As a strong believer that reading is an essential ingredient for children to improve their literacy, through the Yusuf Karodia Foundation he has launched the “Million Books Project” which aims to provide more than a million books to school children across South Africa through mobile libraries.
Professor Karodia said he was humbled by being voted to receive the African Leadership Magazine Person of the Year 2019 – Educational Development Award.
“I accept this award on behalf of all those who helped me lay the foundation for MANCOSA to grow into a vast and respected distance learning institution.
“It is heart-warming that my vision of quality, affordable education has been recognised and commended.”
MANCOSA is a proud member of the Honoris United Universities, the first Pan-African private higher education network committed to preparing and educating the next generation of African leaders and professionals who are able to impact regionally in a globalised world.
Professor Karodia said the HUU network will facilitate greater collaboration on research, faculty training and development as well as student and faculty exchange programmes.
“We also anticipate a major focus on enterprise development through meaningful entrepreneurship training and development programmes, as well as scaling up a series of online courses and qualifications for selected markets in Africa.
“Deepening the focus on employability skills and competencies for graduates, against the backdrop of the digital economy and the fourth industrial revolution, is absolutely critical to us and to Honoris,” he added.
