Professor Nico Cloete is the former director of the Centre for Higher Education Trust (CHET) and coordinator of the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA). He is also a guest professor at the University of Oslo. He was the general secretary of the Union of South African Democratic Staff Associations (UDUSA) and the Research Director of the Nelson Mandela appointed National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE) in South Africa. He has published in psychology, sociology and higher education policy. His latest books are Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education (2015), Doctoral Education in South Africa (2015), Castells in Africa: Universities and Development (2017), Anchored in Place: Rethinking Universities and Development in South Africa (2018) and Research Universities in Africa (2018).