Dr. Nel holds a Ph.D. In applied mathematics, and has published many articles in the field of cosmology. In 1978, he was one of only 70 students in the world to receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to study at The University of Oxford
During his time at Oxford, Professor Nel taught mathematics at one of Oxford's oldest constituent colleges, Balliol, which was founded in 1263.
For the past 25 years, Dr. Nel has traveled extensively throughout Asia. He lived there for more than 13 years, including five years in Beijing. He has interviewed thousands of students and their parents, and truly understands the complexities that international students face and what they need to do to thrive in the pursuit and completion of an American degree. Dr. Nel's academic qualifications and care for students provide the impetus for our program.
From 1983 to 2018, he worked at the University of San Francisco. He was the Chair of the Department of Mathematics, then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and served as Vice President of International Relations for 14 years. While he was at the University of San Francisco, he was responsible for international admissions and made all international undergraduate admissions decisions. During his tenure, the university ranked seventh in the United States in terms of the number of international students (tied with Harvard University).
He has an in-depth understanding of international education systems, including the Chinese system. Under his leadership, the University of San Francisco became one of the first universities in the United States to directly enroll Chinese students based on their scores in the so-called Gaokao, the college entrance examination. People often ask him to comment on educational issues, and he has bee interviewed by numerous publications such as Inside Higher Education in the U.S. and People's Daily in China.
Dr. Nel placed many of his own students in top universities. For example, when he was a mathematics professor, 7 out of the 9 students in one of his classes were admitted to graduate programs at Stanford University.
He currently serves as CEO of Torus Education, a consulting firm dedicated to helping US universities establish partnerships with international universities, particularly in Asia. The company also offers innovative ways to help students gain admission to top universities in the United States. Dr. Nel is assisted by the Distinguished Advisory Board, whose members have more than 100 years of experience in higher education and other related industries, such as executive recruitment, placement and professional curriculum development. They are extremely familiar with the problems faced by international students and have implemented numerous programs to support these students.
One of Dr. Nel’s own sons is the first student of the top US university program. He is currently completing the second year of the program and will soon be studying at a major university in California.
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