Dr Sylvia Demas heads the Secretariat of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) of Namibia. She joined NCHE in 2014. Among the various projects at NCHE, Sylvia pioneered collaborative agreements with professional bodies in Namibia, the development of integrated quality assurance manuals and guidelines between NCHE and other statutory bodies in the country, and the introduction of minimum standards for higher education institutions in Namibia. Previously, Sylvia held various senior positions in the National Planning Commission of Namibia, where she played substantive roles in formulating and coordinating the National Development Plans and Namibia’s Vision 2030. She also worked as a senior researcher at the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management.

Sylvia holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree and a range of other academic achievements in the areas of, operations management; demography; monitoring and evaluation; and higher education quality assurance.

Sylvia is the President of the Southern African Quality Assurance Network and a Member of the INQAAHE Board.