Dr Rajani Naidoo is Director for the Doctor of Business Administration in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Natal in South Africa and her postgraduate studies at the University of London and the University of Cambridge. She has held a range of management, research and academic posts in higher education institutions in South Africa and the UK.

Before this, she was a founding member of an institution which aimed to transform higher education in South Africa by developing and disseminating innovative academic policies and practices. She is outgoing Honorary Secretary of the Society for Research in Higher Education. She has been commissioned to produce research and evaluations for bodies such as the Higher Education Policy Institute, the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency and the National Commission on Higher Education.

She has  published extensively on various aspects of higher education and is on the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education and Studies in Higher Education. Her research interests include transnational higher education, the role of higher education in developing countries, higher education and social justice and the changing academic profession.

Dr Naidoo chaired session 3e - UKIERI: Towards a new understanding of Indian Higher Education.