Yusef Waghid is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He joined Stellenbosch University almost two decades ago as Director of the Centre for Educational Development and has been full Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies since 2002. He was also Chair and, Dean of the Faculty of Education. He holds three doctorates in the areas of Philosophy of Education (Western Cape), Education Policy Studies, and Philosophy (Stellenbosch). He is a fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), internationally acclaimed scholar, B rated with the National Research Foundation. Since 2005, he is Editor-in-Chief of South African Journal of Higher Education. He has over 350 research publications including more than 30 international books and 210 journal articles. 

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Some of his books that accentuate his research foci, include, African philosophy of education reconsidered: On being human (London: Routledge, 2014); Pedagogy out of bounds: Untamed variations of democratic education (Rotterdam/Boston/Taipei: Sense Publishers, 2014); (co-editor with Chapman, J., McNamara, S. & Reiss, M.) International handbook for learning, teaching and leadership in faith-based schools (Dortrecht: Springer Press, 2014); Dancing with doctoral encounters: Democratic education in motion (Stellenbosch: Sun Press, 2015); (co-author with Davids, N.) Ethical Dimensions of Muslim Education (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016); (co-author with Waghid, F. & Waghid, Z.) Educational Technology and Pedagogic Encounters: Democratic Education in Potentiality (Rotterdam/Boston/Taipei: Sense Publishers, 2016); (co-author with Davids, N.) Educational Leadership-in-Becoming: On the Potential of Leadership in Action (London: Routledge, 2017); (co-author with Davids, N.) Philosophy of Education as Action: Implications for teacher education (Malham, MA.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017); (co-editor with Higgs, P.) Philosophy of Education Reader (Cape Town: Juta, 2017); (co-author with Davids, N.) Education, assessment and the desire for dissonance (New York: Peter Lang, 2017); (co-editor with Davies, I., Peck, C., Sant, E., Kiwan, D. & Paterson, A. International Handbook of Citizenship Education (New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2017); (co-author with Davids, N.) Education and tolerance (New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2017); and (co-editor with Davids, N.) African democratic citizenship education revisited (New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2017).

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In 2011 he was honoured with the National Research Foundation (NRF) Special Recognition Award: 'Champion of Research Capacity Development at Higher Education Institutions in South Africa' in recognition of his influence and significant contribution towards the transformation of the social science community in South Africa; and in 2014 he received the prestigious Education Research in Africa Award: Outstanding Mentor of Education Researchers from the Association for the Development of Education in Africa. He has promoted numerous Meds, PhDs and post-doctoral fellows to completion.  

Dr Divya Singh holds LL.D, LL.M, LL.B and BA (Law) degrees.  She also holds a Master’s degree in Tertiary Education Management.  She is a Certified Ethics Officer and advocate.  She practised for her own account for 8 years and then returned to academia.  She’s served as an additional Regional Magistrate, assessor in the High Court, and consultant to the South African Law Commission.  Dr Singh has been an academic for the last twenty-six years, ten of which have been in higher education management.  Her previous position was as Vice-Principal Advisory and Assurance Services at the University of South Africa (Unisa), holding responsibility for the gamut of institutional corporate services.  She also served as a Registrar Governance, as well as a Deputy Registrar at Unisa.  She is currently the Academic Director at Stadio Holdings (Pty) Ltd, a private higher education investment company and the tertiary venture of the Curro Group of businesses.      

Dr Singh’s  research track record includes 32 publications in accredited journals, 10 book chapters, 1 book (co-edited); and in the last two years she presented 15 conference and keynote papers, locally and internationally.  She was editor of 2 academic journals and Butterworths Judgment-Online.  She has received numerous achievement awards locally and internationally for her academic contribution and community engagement; as well as stakeholder recognition from various bodies including the FBI (USA) and United Nations.

Dr Singh has served and continues to on a number of boards, commissions of enquiry, and audit committees in the public sector. She has successfully initiated and facilitated co-operative and stakeholder relationships with local, continental and international partners and is an experienced facilitator and trainer in areas of law, leadership and governance. 

Prof Mayunga Nkunya is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. From 6th November 2010 to 5th November 2015 he was Executive Secretary of Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), an institution of East African Community responsible for coordinating development and harmonisation of higher education in East Africa. From 1st July 2007 to 5th November 2010 he served as Executive Secretary of Tanzania Commission for Universities. From 1999 to 2006 he was Chief Academic Officer of the University of Dar es Salaam (Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs).

Prof Nkunya has coordinated the establishment and initial operationalisation of East Africa’s regional quality assurance system under the IUCEA. He also served as Interim Chairperson of the African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN) during its formative stages and later as first President (1999 to 2011). In 2013 to 2014 he was a co-opted Board Member of International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE). He is also a recipient of the 2015 Global University Network for Innovation – African Quality Assurance Network award in recognition of his personal contribution to development of quality assurance in Africa.

Prof Nkunya was a higher education expert member of the UNESCO Team that reviewed Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Higher Education and Innovation systems for Namibia, in 2016. He has been a member and chairperson of several boards and advisory bodies in and outside Tanzania, including Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Council on National Education in Tanzania, and Chairman of the Steering Committee that reviewed Tanzania’s national innovation systems. He is currently the Chairperson of the National Construction Council of Tanzania. He has been visiting professor/scientist in several countries. He has authored more than 100 publications (books, monographs, research articles, conference/symposia proceedings), among them on quality assurance in higher education.

Dr Garwe holds a four degrees (obtained with distinction) from universities in Zimbabwe and UK. She has 27 years of experience in the quality assurance and strategic management of academic and developmental programmes. She is currently the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the substantive Deputy CEO for the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education (ZIMCHE). Prior to joining ZIMCHE she was the Dean of Agricultural Sciences at Chinhoyi University of Technology and Women’s University in Africa (WUA). She is the Chairperson of the Agricultural Research Council of Zimbabwe, and the WUA Farm Board and former Secretary of the Research and Intellectual Expo Organising Committee as well as former Board member for the Great Zimbabwe University.

Dr Garwe is a Champion for food security in Africa under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), an ambassador for quality assurrance under the Harmonisation of African Accreditation and Quality Assurance (HAAQA) Initiative and an impact leader under the UK Research Impact Leadership programme. She has published over 65 articles in the area of animal science, finance and quality assurance in higher education. She has won several awards for leadership in higher education and research.