College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science

Professor Fhatuwani Nixwell Mudau is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science.

Professor Mudau possesses a BSc in Agric (Crop Science) from the University of Venda in 1996. He also has an MSc from the University of Stellenbosch, where he researched citrus nutrition. He then completed his PhD (Horticultural Sciences) at the University of Pretoria in 2005.

A scientist of note, he has extensive research in herbal medicine. He further completed a Master in Business Leadership (MBL) at UNISA Graduate School of Business Leadership and a number of Leadership courses at GIBBS and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

An esteemed academic, his previous work experience includes Vista University VUDEC, Campus (Now Incorporated into the University of South Africa), University of Venda and University of Limpopo as a Lecturer.

In 2006, he was seconded by the University of Limpopo to establish a fully funded Research Centre as an Associate Professor and Centre Manager known as Limpopo Agro-Food Technology Station (LATS) funded by Tshumisano Trust (now Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)). He then joined the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) under Food and Beverages (now Agro-Industries) Strategic Business Unit (SBU), HealthCare and Education (SBU) as a Specialist.

An established researcher, Professor Mudau has extensively published in both local and international Journals and has received numerous funding for research from various research funders.

He has briefly served as a Board member of the South African Horticultural Sciences Society, Rotondo Pty Ltd, and Berekisanang, a subsidiary company under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). He has reviewed several manuscripts in highly reputed journals, both locally and internationally. Professor Mudau has vast experience in project development and implementation in Agro Industries, Education and the HealthCare sector.

He has extensive experience managing mega projects, performing initial assessments on business proposals, due diligence investigations and presenting written recommendations to credit, investment committees and investors. He is a C3 NRF-rated scientist and has received numerous awards, including the UNISA Research Chancellor award, the Best publisher under the GDARD research grant for five consecutive years, and one of the finalists of NSTF awards under the Crop Science category and Research output.

On this note, I invite you all to support and work with him in successfully discharging his duties in his new portfolio.