Wim de Villiers
Willem "Wim" Johan Simon de Villiers is a South African doctor and served as the 12th rector and vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University.
He succeeded Russel Botman after the latter died suddenly of a heart attack in 2014.
De Villiers was previously the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town.
He is a board member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
Life
After obtaining his medical degree, De Villiers moved to England, where he obtained a doctorate in immunology from the University of Oxford in 1995. He then moved to the United States where he worked as a gastroenterologist. He also held numerous senior positions at the University of Kentucky, including chief of gastroenterology.He also earned a master's degree in health care management from Harvard University.
Controversy
Language policy at Stellenbosch University
Wim de Villiers formed a management team in 2015 to resolve the language issue on behalf of the university. The management team decides that all teaching at Stellenbosch University will be facilitated in English and that substantial academic support will be made available in other South African languages according to students' needs.In 2017, the university became one of four South African universities to abolish Afrikaans as a language of instruction. De Villiers is in favor of expanding the use of English to more than 50% to attract more international students and lecturers.
On 6 August 2017, Netwerk24 reported that court documents were submitted to the High Court in Cape Town alleging that De Villiers deliberately misled the council of Stellenbosch University in his fight to remove Afrikaans as a language of instruction at the university acquire.