The centre, a first for South Africa, is an extension of the School of Real Estate & Planning which forms an integral part of Henley Business School UK and is the largest and most prestigious school of its kind in the UK. Spanning four decades, it has earned a reputation as a world leader in the provision of real estate education and is ranked the leading real estate centre in Europe by the US-based Urban Land Institute.

Guest speaker, Prof Ginny Gibson, Deputy Dean of Henley Business School UK and Professor of Corporate Real Estate at the University of Reading, gave insights into her experiences in the real estate, built environment and planning fields.

Prof Jon Foster-Pedley, Dean of Henley Business School Africa explained that Henley Real Estate Centre Africa will be drawing on the strengths and the best of international research and knowledge provided by the Real Estate and Planning School in the UK. "In addition, it will become a key component of Henley Business School Africa by establishing close relationships with government, business and communities in emerging economies, to increase professional and management capacity."

As the latest addition to Henley Business School Africa, he said the centre's principal aim is the advancement of skills, knowledge and practices for the commercially effective, environmentally aware and socially responsible development and management of the real estate, built environment and planning industries.

Programmes include:

• The Real Estate Public Sector Programme (RESPP), targeted at property professionals who need to understand the role of property in the public sector context (town planners, valuers, architects, private property businesses and contractors )
• The Real Estate Africa Programme (REAP), targeted at a professionals who wish to understand real estate in an African context (as an emerging country). Modules in the REAP course include Real Estate Law; Real Estate Economics and Research; Real Estate Finance and Valuations; Real Estate Management and Property Management; and Real Estate Development.

Henley Real Estate Centre Africa has appointed an advisory committee comprising a number of industry thought leaders: Erwin Rode, Property Economist and CEO of Rode & Associates; Les Weil, Chairman of J H Isaacs Group Holdings; Prof Shadrack Gutto, Professor of African Renaissance Studies at UNISA; Prof Francois Viruly, CEO of Viruly & Associates and Portia Tau-Sekati, CEO of the Property Sector Charter Council.

Heading up the centre is Dineo Molomo, who said its mission and vision is to provide the highest standards of postgraduate and executive education, thereby spearheading rural and urban infrastructure development in the South African and African real estate industry.

"Despite South Africa's real estate sector being worth an estimated R4.9 trillion and contributing almost 10 percent to the country's GDP, the provision of skills programmes for industry professionals is sorely lacking," she said. "We aim to bridge that gap by being both global and local in orientation, drawing on the best of international knowledge, research and skills.

"In addition to acquiring commercial awareness and a drive to succeed, students will be encouraged to interact freely and become more innovative in their thinking. One of our chief aims is to address the dearth of female property practitioners by encouraging more women to enter the profession."