On 2 October 2008, CHET hosted a dinner-seminar with Professor Hans Weiler to discuss the topic "National Unification, Global Competition and Institutional Reform: The Dynamics of Change in Higher Education". In his presentation, he poses the question: "Is the ‘luxury of ambivalence’ sustainable in the contemporary university?"

Professor Weiler is Professor of Comparative Politics and Rektor, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder and Professor of Education and Political Science, Emeritus, Stanford University. he has been lauded in Europe as 'Reformer of the Decade' for his leadership in higher education, has agreed to visit South Africa to deliver a series of lectures (Johannesburg and Cape Town) and to consult and advise on higher education reform based on his extensive experience in the field.

As Rektor of Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder, Professor Weiler was tasked within developing a new university from an existing institution in ways that refl ected the new demands of democracy and co-operation in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall. His experiences of institutional restructuring in Germany speak to common themes of unity, identity, democracy and legacy as encountered in the post-1994 South African university.

Read Professor Weiler's presentation: National Unification, Global Competition and Institutional Reform