Professor Yusuf Karodia epitomised African excellence during his four decades of being involved in the education sector, and he was known for his hands-on management style and friendly disposition. An astute academic, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Professor Karodia was the visionary founder of MANCOSA and Regent Business School in South Africa, and a founding partner of Honoris United Universities, the first pan-African higher education platform.
As a young and aspiring educator in a turbulent socio-economic setting, Professor Karodia quickly realised that capable black students were denied access to university education under the Apartheid regime. The injustice that he witnessed and experienced motivated him to inspire change. With a massive leap of faith, he established two private higher education institutions that would provide access to quality affordable education, especially for those who were previously denied access to education. He also recognised that in order to have a meaningful impact, quality distance education was required.
The launch of MANCOSA and Regent Business School was a major disruption in the higher education environment of the country. For the first time in South Africa’s history, private higher education institutions were contributing meaningfully to the critical issues of access and affordability, especially at a time when the challenge of massification of education was placed at the fore of the first democratically-elected government’s agenda in South Africa. The intrinsic value of affordable access to quality education remains central to the mission of both MANCOSA and Regent Business School, which offer distance, online and blended-learning education.
Professor Karodia had forged numerous links and networks with educational institutions both locally and internationally. He was also instrumental in shaping the purpose and role of business education through his role in the South African Business Schools Association, the Association of African Business Schools and the BRICS Business Schools Association, the headquarters of which is located at Regent Business School.
Through the Yusuf Karodia Foundation, Professor Karodia 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 was a strong believer that reading is an essential ingredient for children to improve their literacy, further their education and brighten their future.
Through Professor Karodia’s visionary leadership, MANCOSA and Regent Business School became founding institutions of Honoris United Universities, which is 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. The Honoris network is built upon its unique ‘collaborative intelligence’ concept, and brings together the pioneering efforts of leading tertiary education institutions in Northern and Southern Africa to create pan-regional profile graduates who are competitive in today’s fast-paced and demanding labour markets.
Professor Karodia began his career in 1973 as a schoolteacher. In 1988, after completing his Master of Education Degree at UNISA, he became a lecturer in educational management and comparative education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). In the same year, Professor Karodia was a research fellow on a British Council scholarship for the University of Manchester in the UK.
In 1990, he was awarded the Fulbright scholarship and the Education Opportunities Council Faculty Fellowship at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He conducted research on his doctoral programme on management issues pertaining to non-governmental organisations at the same university.
Professor Karodia was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1992 from the University of Pretoria. During his tenure at UKZN, he attended various national and international conferences, representing the university on the national education crisis committee.
Spurred by the socio-political injustices he witnessed and experienced in his early years during apartheid, particularly the denial of tertiary education to black students, Professor Yusuf Karodia established two private higher education institutions to empower the youth with affordable, quality, supported distance learning education for the previously marginalised. Regent Business School and MANCOSA continue his legacy today and play an important role in southern African educational sector.
Professor Yusuf Karodia received the African Leadership Person of the Year Award (2020) for education and development. The annual event showcases and celebrates Africa’s finest business, political and diplomatic leaders who contribute to the continent’s growth and development. The award acknowledged Professor Karodia as one of Africa’s greatest visionaries in the development of education in Africa.
Professor Yusuf Karodia epitomised African excellence during his four decades of being involved in the education sector, and he was known for his hands-on management style and friendly disposition. An astute academic, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Professor Karodia was the visionary founder of MANCOSA and Regent Business School in South Africa, and a founding partner of Honoris United Universities, the first pan-African higher education platform.
As a young and aspiring educator in a turbulent socio-economic setting, Professor Karodia quickly realised that capable black students were denied access to university education under the Apartheid regime. The injustice that he witnessed and experienced motivated him to inspire change. With a massive leap of faith, he established two private higher education institutions that would provide access to quality affordable education, especially for those who were previously denied access to education. He also recognised that in order to have a meaningful impact, quality distance education was required.
The launch of MANCOSA and Regent Business School was a major disruption in the higher education environment of the country. For the first time in South Africa’s history, private higher education institutions were contributing meaningfully to the critical issues of access and affordability, especially at a time when the challenge of massification of education was placed at the fore of the first democratically-elected government’s agenda in South Africa. The intrinsic value of affordable access to quality education remains central to the mission of both MANCOSA and Regent Business School, which offer distance, online and blended-learning education.
Professor Karodia had forged numerous links and networks with educational institutions both locally and internationally. He was also instrumental in shaping the purpose and role of business education through his role in the South African Business Schools Association, the Association of African Business Schools and the BRICS Business Schools Association, the headquarters of which is located at Regent Business School.
Through the Yusuf Karodia Foundation, Professor Karodia 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 was a strong believer that reading is an essential ingredient for children to improve their literacy, further their education and brighten their future.
Through Professor Karodia’s visionary leadership, MANCOSA and Regent Business School became founding institutions of Honoris United Universities, which is 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. The Honoris network is built upon its unique ‘collaborative intelligence’ concept, and brings together the pioneering efforts of leading tertiary education institutions in Northern and Southern Africa to create pan-regional profile graduates who are competitive in today’s fast-paced and demanding labour markets.
Professor Karodia began his career in 1973 as a schoolteacher. In 1988, after completing his Master of Education Degree at UNISA, he became a lecturer in educational management and comparative education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). In the same year, Professor Karodia was a research fellow on a British Council scholarship for the University of Manchester in the UK.
In 1990, he was awarded the Fulbright scholarship and the Education Opportunities Council Faculty Fellowship at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He conducted research on his doctoral programme on management issues pertaining to non-governmental organisations at the same university.
Professor Karodia was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1992 from the University of Pretoria. During his tenure at UKZN, he attended various national and international conferences, representing the university on the national education crisis committee.
Spurred by the socio-political injustices he witnessed and experienced in his early years during apartheid, particularly the denial of tertiary education to black students, Professor Yusuf Karodia established two private higher education institutions to empower the youth with affordable, quality, supported distance learning education for the previously marginalised. Regent Business School and MANCOSA continue his legacy today and play an important role in southern African educational sector.
Professor Yusuf Karodia received the African Leadership Person of the Year Award (2020) for education and development. The annual event showcases and celebrates Africa’s finest business, political and diplomatic leaders who contribute to the continent’s growth and development. The award acknowledged Professor Karodia as one of Africa’s greatest visionaries in the development of education in Africa.