South Africa's Professor Jonathan Jansen To Be Honored At Awards Gala In New York City, June 3, 2013

NEW YORK, May 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Professor Jonathan Jansen, the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State in South Africa who helped turn the university away from its apartheid legacy into an institution that is truly representative of what South Africa stands for, is set to receive the Education Africa Lifetime Achievement Award for Africa at a gala by the same name on Monday, June 3, 2013, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.  

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(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130517/NY11840-b )

Jansen is being recognized for the great strides he has taken in ensuring integration at a university that once threatened to implode with racial tension and for his continued work towards the transformation of education in South Africa. In 2010, just two short years after Jansen joined the institution as its Vice-Chancellor, it was awarded the World Universities Forum Award for Best Practice in Higher Education for the racial integration and harmonisation of the student community.

Oprah Winfrey, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in 2011, said at the time: "What has happened here at Free State in terms of racial reconciliation, of peace, of harmony, of one heart understanding and opening itself to another heart is nothing short of a miracle. It is truly what the new South Africa is all about."

Grammy Award winning Roberta Flack, who is best known for a string of hits like Killing Me Softly With His Song; Set the Night to Music and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, inter alia, will give a special live performance at the event.

The awards are being hosted by Education Africa and Brand South Africa. Education Africa is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit tax exempt organization which is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and has registered offices in the USA, Austria and the UK. Brand South Africa is a publicly funded trust with trustees appointed by South Africa's president. It works with partners in and out of government to see that South Africa's value proposition as a place to do business, invest in and visit – and from which to source products, ideas and inspiration – is fully appreciated.

For more information on this event and sponsorship opportunities, please visit:  http://www.educationafrica.org/documents/DIGITAL_INVITE_2013_June.pdf

SOURCE Education Africa