Governance Council

Prof. Vivienne obtained her B.Juris (cum laude), LLB cum laude at the former University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) in 1993 and 1995, respectively. She obtained an LLM degree from UPE in 1997 and graduated from the University of South Africa (Unisa) with a Doctor of Laws in 2001 at the age of 29. She is an admitted Advocate of the High Court in SA since Dec 1995 on the non-practicing roll. 

Prof. Vivienne taught Law of Payment Instruments, Corporate and advanced corporate law, Intellectual Property Law and Competition Law at UPE from 1995 to 2002. Vivienne joined Strate Ltd, SA’s central securities repository, where she was the Senior Legal Counsel, responsible for securities and IT legal work, as well as the amendment of the Strate Rules (as regulator of brokers). She joined NMMU as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law in July 2008 until March 2015. From 2009-2015, Vivienne led the national LLB Curriculum Reform project as President of the South African Law Deans Association. She co-chaired the National Summit in 2013 with the late CEO of the Law Society of South Africa, Nic Swart, and was one of the key drafters of the CHE National Standards for the LLB programme, against which all law programmes in SA were reviewed. Vivienne is the DVC Academic at UWC, responsible for leading the academic project at UWC and was the Acting Rector and VC of UWC from 1 Feb to 31 July 2020, incidentally leading the university during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Prof. Vivienne is the current Chair of the SA DVC Academic Forum, founding Africa board member, past Chair of the Cape Higher Education Consortium Board and returning member of the South African Judicial Institute (SAJEI) Council, chaired by the Chief Justice of SA.