Vice-Chancellor
About the Vice-Chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor is accountable to Council for the leadership of the university as a whole, and for determining the university's strategic goals, ensuring their implementation. This includes accountability for the university's overall strategy and executive oversight, transformation and social justice policy intervention.
He has executive oversight for Council accountability, fundraising and alumni initiatives, external relations, financial oversight, risk management and ceremonial functions.
Profile
Dr Max Price began his term of office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town on 1 July 2008.
Previous to his appointment he was an independent consultant in the fields of public health, health policy, medical education, and human resources for health planning, as well as consultant to the national Department of Education regarding financing of tertiary education of health professionals.
Dr Price has a strong transformation record, built primarily during his tenure as Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1996 to 2006. As Dean and member of the senior executive team, he spearheaded a series of transformation initiatives, including the Internal Reconciliation Commission. He established a new graduate entry medical degree, academic programmes in rural health, bioethics, sports medicine, emergency medicine, and biomedical sciences. He also founded South Africa's first university-owned private teaching hospital, and the first university research company and raised over R130 million for new initiatives in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
He has an MBBCh degree from the University of the Witwatersrand which he obtained in 1979; a BA PPE (Oxon 1983); an M.Sc in Community Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; and a Diploma in Occupational Health from Wits.
A former Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Four Outstanding Young South Africans Award winner (1992), and Student Representative Council president, Dr Price's professional work has included clinical work in hospitals and rural primary health care; he was a research fellow in health economics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine from 1986 to 1987; a senior researcher at the Centre for Health Policy and Director of the Centre for Health Policy at Wits University as well as a visiting Takemi Fellow in International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health from 1994 to 1995.
Dr Price has held membership and executive positions in various organizations including the National Medical and Dental Association, and the African National Congress health financing commission. He served as Chair of the Ministerial Committee on Health Care Financing, and was a member of the WHO/FAO/UNDP Tropical Disease Research programme (TDR) special task force on impact of health financing reform on tropical diseases.
He was Chairperson of the national Committee of Medical Deans and is currently a member of the Medical and Dental Professions Board of SA, appointed by the South African University Vice Chancellors Association. (SAUVCA), now known as Higher Education South Africa (HESA).
Dr Price has published extensively including 38 local and international refereed journal articles, over 100 other articles, and academic conference papers in health systems research, political economy of health; health economics and financing; privatisation and medical aids; rural health services; computer simulation modelling of health systems; medical education and human resources.
UCT Portfolio
Portfolio responsibilities relating to UCT strategic goals
- Overall Strategy & Executive Oversight
- Transformation
- Social justice policy intervention
Additional responsibilities and executive oversight
- Council accountability
- Fundraising & alumni initiatives
- External relations
- Financial oversight
- Risk management
- Ceremonial functions
Departments and individual reporting lines to VC and DVCs
- DVCs (4)
- Registrar
- ED Finance
- ED Communication & Marketing
- ED Development & Alumni
- Director Office of the VC
- Director Internal Audit
Committee membership ('Ch' indicates chair responsibilities)
- Council Executive
- VC's Transformation Advisory Committee (Ch)
- University Finance Committee
- Risk Management Committee (Ch)
- University Audit Committee
- University Development Committee (Ch)
- Alumni Association Management Committee
- Remuneration Committee
- Joint Investment Committee
- College of Fellows (Ch)
- Admissions & Progression Committee
- Appointments Committee
- Honorary Degrees Committee
- Baxter Theatre Centre Board
Committees outside UCT
- Higher Education SA (HESA)
- HESA Exco
- Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA)
- Association of African Universities (AAU)
- Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
- University Foundation
- Ukukhula Trust
- Worldwide Universities Network (WUN)
- World Economic Forum (WEF)
- UCT Fund: USA (Board of Trustees)
- UCT Fund: UK (Board of Trustees)
- Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC)
- Mauerberger Foundation - director