Advancing meaningful collaborations for Wits
- Wits University
International partnerships are critical for the University says Dr Samia Chasi, Head of the Wits Internationalisation and Strategic Partnerships Office.
When Dr Chasi introduces herself, she often begins with her name, not to make a formal impression, but because it tells the story of a life lived across worlds.
“It’s pronounced differently in different languages - it's Zamia in German, Samia in English and Samya in French,” depending on who is speaking, she says with a smile.
Born and raised in east Germany to a German mother and Sudanese father, her identity has always held linguistic, cultural, and intellectual layers. Today, those layers shape her work as the Head of the Wits Internationalisation and Strategic Partnership Office, a key Office that drives global engagement by fostering meaningful collaborations with leading universities, research institutions, industry partners, and international organisations.
Chasi assumed her position at Wits in April 2025, marking her second professional chapter at Wits - an institution she proudly calls home. “I am a Witsie,” she says warmly. “I earned my PhD here and spent many years on this campus until 2014.”
Prior to rejoining Wits, she served as the Manager of Strategic Initiatives, Partnership Development & Research at the International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA). Her extensive career includes roles in the international offices of German and South African universities, an agency of the European Commission, and South African representations of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Nuffic, and the British Council. An accomplished practitioner, facilitator, and scholar in higher education internationalisation, she has over 25 years of experience advancing internationalisation and cultivating strategic partnerships. She holds a PhD in education from Wits University, a Master of Philosophy in Engineering Management from the University of Johannesburg, and a Master of Arts in English, Russian, and Sociology from the University of Rostock.
Shaped by Global Experiences
Chasi’s early academic journey foregrounded her future path. As a student in Germany, she took part in an exchange programme at the University of Edinburgh located in Scotland where she immersed herself in the unfamiliar for the first time. Those experiences opened her worldview.
However, it was in South Africa, where she first arrived in 2000 to help establish an international office at the then Potchefstroom University (now North-West University), that the meaning of international education deepened for her.
“In Europe, many students have access to exchange programmes” she says. “Here I met students who had never left their province. Watching them return from study abroad programmes as transformed beings was profound.”
This early exposure sparked her passion for widening access and creating pathways to global academic exchanges for students and staff. Her scholarship, which includes nine peer-reviewed publications in the past five years, now centres on critical internationalisation and decolonisation from a Global South perspective.
A Journey Rooted in the Three Cs
Chasi’s vision for the Internationalisation and Strategic Partnerships Office extends far beyond managing partnerships or facilitating mobility. For her, internationalisation must become a cross-cutting institutional practice, embedded in teaching, learning, research, community engagement, and administrative life. This vision is anchored in the three C’s – collaboration, communication and connection.
Collaboration
Internationalisation is an institutional endeavour,” she emphasises.
She sees collaboration as the backbone of Wits’ global engagement. As such, she works closely with the Research Office, International Students Office, faculties, advancement teams, and administrative units to make international partnerships meaningful and beneficial. Whether coordinating mobility programmes, developing joint academic initiatives such as the Wits-Edinburgh doctoral programme, or meeting international delegations, she insists that partnerships must be equitable, strategic and aligned with Wits’ strengths.
Communication
For Chasi, communication is more than messaging - it is visibility, coherence, and institutional storytelling.
“We can be the best of the best, but it won’t matter if nobody knows,” she says. “Rankings, reputation, international opportunities - these all depend on shaping clear, intentional narratives.”
She believes strongly in sharing information across the university, especially about partnerships, donor engagements and international activities that are currently dispersed across departments. This is why she champions a consolidated partnerships database, a strategic tool to make Wits’ global footprint visible and actionable.
Connection
Connection is personal and professional to Chasi. It is the heart of why she works in internationalisation.
“I believe in building bridges, not burning them,” she reflects. Her own life, shaped by North and South, academic and administrative spaces, German and African identities, enables her to serve as a mediator, a translator and a connector.
Whether supporting early-career researchers to build global networks, advocating for inclusive student mobility, or linking internationalisation to transformation and social justice, she holds firmly to the idea that relationships drive change.
What excites her most about Wits’ vision is the potential to lead boldly from the Global South.
She’s also focused on strengthening continental relationships. Wits is a member of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), a network of research-intensive universities in the region whose aim is to enhance the quality of research done in Africa for Africa and by African researchers.
As she settles into her role, Chasi is clear about what she hopes her tenure will reflect: a university that communicates openly, collaborates intentionally, and connects meaningfully - within itself and with the world.