Beverley Thaver,  a  full Professor in Higher Education Studies,  with a BA degree from University of Cape Town,  a MA from the University of York (United Kingdom)  and a PhD in Education from the University of the Western Cape. She has received several scholarship awards from the Swiss Church Group, British Council, SASSAKWA Leadership Award,  Japan. In 2014 she was chosen to represent Fulbright at the World Science Forum.   A former (and currently, Acting) Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research, her research interest and publications are in the democratic transformation  dynamic of higher education institutions at both the institutional and systems' levels.   She researches both the public and the private higher education sectors, with several published articles and completed masters and doctoral supervisions. She has a special interest in the transformation of the academic profession and the phenomenon of institutional culture.  She recently presented thoughts on the dynamic of university transformation and aspects of social cohesion at the Department of Arts and Culture. She is a National Research Foundation –rated social scientist and  a Ministerial appointee to the Council on Higher Education, serving a second four-year term.  She is also Chairperson of the National Evaluation and Monitoring committee at the Council on Higher Education.