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ABOUT !ntr@~

ABOUT !ntr@~

!ntr@~ supports higher education institutions and scholars through relational, context-sensitive research, teaching-learning and curriculum support.

ABOUT Petro du Preez

Petro is an Independent Consultant and Extraordinary Professor (Stellenbosch University). She is an award-winning scholar with extensive experience in research innovation and development, postgraduate supervision, research fund-raising, and scholarly publishing and editing. Petro frequently acts as external reviewer for programmes and institutions; and has ample experience in higher education policy development.

Writing Retreats

Structured academic writing retreats offering focused writing time, small-group workshops and individual consultations to support scholarly productivity and publication.

Evaluations & Reviews

Expert support for curriculum, departmental and institutional reviews, including preparation, critical reading of evaluation reports, participation in evaluations and orientation to review processes.

Research
Methodology Workshops

Tailored workshops covering quantitative, qualitative and postqualitative approaches, metadesigns, conceptual studies and research paradigms/philosophies of knowledge.

Mentoring &
NRF Rating Guidance

Integrated mentoring in research and the scholarship of teaching and learning, early career researcher development, NRF rating orientation and preparation and guidance on research fundraising.

Peer-reviewed
articles & chapters

Conference
engagements

Completed
postgrad supervisions

h-index: 20

i10-index: 34

NRF rating: C2

My Books

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OUT OF PRINT

My Scientific Paper

Please click on the Google Scholar button in the header to access the full list of my publications.

"Rethinking and researching transformation in higher education: A meta-study of South African trends"

- Transformation in Higher Education -

Transformation is often loosely defined. We argue that the reason for this is its inherent complexity. Paradoxically, its lack of definition is an asset, which provides an opportunity to rethink and research transformation in higher education, rather than an urgent problem to be solved. In this article, the possibilities for researching and rethinking transformation are based on an exploration of transformation in higher education and the policy directives that influenced its development in South Africa. A meta-study was used ...

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"The COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching/learning, the digital divide and epistemological access"

- Unpublished paper -

The COVID-19 pandemic is a multifaceted crisis, imbuing all dimensions of human life and having implications for all disciplines/fields in higher education. The coronavirus outbreak and its spread witnessed higher education institutions across the world racing to introduce online learning offerings and assessments as well as support programmes for staff and students. Few would question the affordances of new technologies to expand learning into virtual spaces and that online learning management systems have ensured that all learning is not thwarted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, all students might not be enjoying equitable benefits from the affordances of new technologies. For example, in a country like South Africa ...

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"Decolonising the university curriculum or decolonial-washing? A multiple case study"

- Journal of Education (University of KwaZulu-Natal) -

In this article, we report on four case studies of how higher education institutions have grappled with the demands of decolonisation of their curricula. In some respects, the cases differ in form and content, and the unique responses to decolonisation of each institution are described and analysed. An important similarity among the institutions was the use of extensive public lectures, seminars, and workshops as a common strategy to deal with the calls for the decolonising of curricula. The inquiry is motivated by ...

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My Artworks

All artworks are available for sale and exhibition.

My Awards

2025

Recipient of the South African Education Research Association’s Research Recognition Award

2013

Named one of HERS-SA’s movers and shakers in academia

2014

Awarded distinguish young women researcher in South Africa by the National Department of Science and Technology

2012

Named one of the top 200 youth leaders in South Africa by the Mail & Guardian in the category Science and Education

Client Feedback on Writing Retreats

"The writing retreat with Prof Du Preez blended enough writing time with practical and efficient workshop training. I appreciated the personal attention she gave to each of us, sharing a wealth of knowledge about writing, publishing, rating and being an academic in South Africa. Prof Du Preez was the best facilitator we have had thus far. She insisted that we schedule an hour with each of us during the writing retreat. She was flexible and commented on everyone’s work. The most hardworking facilitator by far."

"This is the best writing retreat I have attended to date. Prof Petro is excellent. The comments on my paper were the most helpful. The morning and afternoon sessions were informative with practical tips. The individual sessions provided direction. I feel that Prof Petro – an excellent academic and role model – walks with us in our journey, showing us where to tread carefully and how to have a great deal of creative fun along the way."

"The style that Prof du Preez used to facilitate the writing retreat is excellent. She did not only share her expertise and advice based on writing papers but went beyond that. Due to her presence and having check-in sessions two times a day, she really pushed me to complete my article in a space of three days. I truly recommend her for future writing retreats."

"Hi Petro. Thank you very much for the insightful, productive and awesome three days of writing retreat. I truly appreciate the daily check-in sessions we had in the mornings and afternoons, as well as our one-on-one session. I struggle with maintaining consistency when writing, but that is a thing of the past. I admire how honest you are about your academic career. That helped me to appreciate the work I do more. I hope to have more writing retreats with you as a facilitator. You are awesome!"

"The retreat helped me to gain confidence in my writing style. I received invaluable guidance. I learnt how to structure my article and how to align the different manuscript sections. The document publishing progress planner, notes about publishing procedures, and talks on relevance, credibility and visibility were very useful."

"Prof Petro Du Preez was outstanding. She is particularly friendly, laid-back and open, which enhanced her effectiveness. May she be given more opportunities to facilitate the writing retreats."

"The weekend timing was great and added a lot of value. The facilitator had extremely relevant and sharp insights that everyone found valuable, even though she was not in any of our fields."

"I learned a new technique on how to write, to find the suitable place to write, blocking time for research and writing, and one-on-one was more impactful."

Higher Education | Research Consultancy