Published in May to commemorate Workers' Day, our annual #dayinthelife series spotlights our staff at Stellenbosch University (SU). This year, we highlight professional administrative support services staff who make a tangible difference in students' lives.
Dr Heidi October is based in the Division of Student Affairs and facilitates purpose-driven learning opportunities for students to engage with global citizen-leadership matters.
What does your role at SU entail?
I'm responsible for the leadership strategy within the Division of Student Affairs, which includes the Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert (FVZS) Institute. I'm also responsible for the Centre for Student Life and Learning's (CSLL) staff development portfolio. My role entails the co-design of hybrid student leadership programmes for transcript recognition. The FVZS Institute has a global reach with student enrolments from all higher education institutions and international universities.
Our work supports the academic project through the development of the SU graduate attributes, with a focus on creating critical learning opportunities for students to engage in global citizen-leadership matters such as human rights, democracy, and social justice. Our extensive leadership portfolio ranges from International Youth Think Tanks, leadership summits, book launches, podcasts with Vice-Chancellors, customised leadership programmes for student faculty committees and international groups, semester-long leadership short courses, to a range of masterclasses on African Leadership and Democracy and Citizenship.
What does a typical day at work look like?
There is no typical day in Student Affairs. I am involved in various institutional forums and long-term strategic projects, such as driving the roll-out of our research on SU's impact-measurement of leadership programmes with an international consortium from 2026 over a 3-year period, as well as working towards an integrated leadership framework for SU. This means consulting with various internal and external partners. I serve on the NASPA (the largest Student Affairs body with more than 15 000 members) global division leadership board, and I'm also co-editor of the first NASPA global publication to be launched next year. It's exciting to be part of Student Affairs initiatives nationally and globally, and creating opportunities for our colleagues to participate and share contextual influences on our South African student affairs praxis.
I have to structure my day to include time for student engagement, staff engagement, research for leadership classes, facilitating team sessions, strategy design and implementation, and the short courses and masterclasses running simultaneously after hours. Some days might start at 05:00 with emails and end at 21:00 on campus before heading home.
How did your education or past experiences prepare you for this job?
This year, 30 years ago, I completed my application for SU. Since then, my journey has been filled with extraordinary chapters and many career lessons learnt. I joined SU in 1996 and enrolled for Speech Therapy and Audiology but changed my mind during the welcoming period to enrol for a BA (Psychology, Philosophy and German). At the time I could never have anticipated how past experiences could have prepared me for my current role. I can relate to the introvert student who is passionate about change, and those who prefer solo experiences yet are deeply in tune with the complexity of building community and a sense of belonging.
My interests have always centred around how human beings function in a community (as insiders or outsiders and what the unwritten rules are to “fit in"). As an avid solo traveller, I have been intrigued by this from my teenage years, and as a result, solo travels to almost 50 countries followed. This continues to shape me as I realise how little you require to survive, how small and insignificant you are in the greater world, and how incredibly interconnected we are as human beings on this earth.
In the early 1990s, when schools opened for people of colour, I was one of a handful of learners at a prominent ex-model C Afrikaans school in Cape Town. That first election in 1994 is still fresh in my memory. Assimilation versus individuality was a central theme of my high school years and my time as a student at SU. During my student life, I was actively involved in leadership roles; debating, societies, faculty, task teams, House Committee (Nemesia), and the SRC (1998/1999).
I later completed my BA Hons (German) and my Master's degree in Social Anthropology, exploring social exclusion on our campus. My PhD in Leadership Studies at the University of Pretoria further deepened my research interest in the intersection of social psychology and leadership and how, in a post-apartheid era, our student leaders' leadership identity carries past, present, and future with them and contributes to their leadership perspectives. International guest lecturing opportunities on leadership identity also confirmed to me that youths globally have a significant role to play in building a global community through gaining a deep understanding of their identity as leaders.
Over the past three decades, I have been involved with the entire student life cycle… and yet, every single day, I gain more insights as our students challenge us in the leadership space and contribute to our growth as staff members.
What do you enjoy most about your role and working at SU?
Without a doubt, the students! I have an amazing, inspiring team who work collaboratively on various aspects of our work, and this includes our students. I don't believe you can have a rich and fulfilling career in higher education if you don't have a genuine interest in students. They bring with them the dreams and fears of their families and communities, and they remind us of our own aspirations. When I joined the students by adding my dream to a tree in Victoria Street during welcoming this year, I was surrounded by the laughter and excitement of our first years. As staff, we shouldn't forget that we are part of their transformative experience; they shape ours and collectively we shape the transformative experience of SU as an institution. This beautiful, vulnerable relationship forms true connections with those around us and keeps us humble and accountable to live and lead with integrity. There is nothing as rewarding as a student who thrives (and in THEIR own way at THEIR own pace) and who is involved in social change in our communities and society at large. Over the years I've stayed in touch with many student leaders and alumni I've come across in various parts of South Africa and abroad. I follow their careers and celebrate their successes and it's wonderful to invite them back to engage with our student leaders. SU is still perceived as a place of privilege, and those associated with SU, as working and studying at a place of privilege. It is therefore enriching working with students and colleagues who are aware of this perception and continue to be critical and committed to a deep consciousness of the role we have to play in our country and globally.
Tell us something exciting about yourself that few people would expect?
My dry sense of humour is my superpower. A few years ago, I took up salsa dancing and long-distance walking. It started as a way to clear my “always on" headspace as part of my “mind practicing" routine. I later attempted, and might I add with much humour, my first half-marathon and finally the Camino de Santiago in Spain. While the distances got shorter after my knee replacement, I still want to take on another Camino to raise awareness for Scoliosis, and a local one with our student leaders to raise funds as leaders for student success.
PHOTO: Stefan Els
