A Stanford graduate, Jonathan Jansen is one of South Africa’s best known, most widely heard, and most critical educators. Never hesitant to speak truth to power, he challenges conventional wisdoms and sparks national debate about education policy and practice.

Jonathan Jansen is Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State, President of the South African Institute of Race Relations, and former Vice-President of the South African Academy of Science. He is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and a Fellow of the Academy of Science of the Developing World. His book Knowledge in the Blood: Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past (Stanford 2009) was listed as one of the best books of the year by the American Libraries Association. He also writes popular books like Great South African Teachers (with two students), We Need to Talk, and We Need to Act (2013); and is a columnist for The Times. His most recent book (with filmmaker Molly Blank) is How to fix South Africa’s schools: lessons from schools that work; his next book (in preparation) is titled Nearness by Resemblance, and deals with problems of intimacy in race relations on South African university campuses.