DEQAR - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Institutional Coordinator of the University of Rijeka
Aleksandar Šušnjar is a PhD student in Philosophy and an expert associate at the Centre for Quality Assurance and Enhancement of the University of Rijeka (Croatia),
During his studies, Aleksandar was active in numerous student organisations and representation bodies at different levels, including serving as a president of the Croatian Students' Council, an Executive Committee member of the European Students' Union (ESU) and a Steering Committee member of the Quality Assurance Student Experts Pool.
Aleksandar is currently an Institutional Coordinator of the University of Rijeka for involvement in one of the European Universities initiatives - Young Universities for the Future of Europe (YUFE).
Job Titles:
- Policy and Project Officer
Aleksandra Zhivkovikj joined the Secretariat in July 2020. She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University "SS. Cyril and Methodius"-Skopje and a master's degree in educational policies and development from the University of Oslo, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Malta. She has been working in the civil society sector in North Macedonia for a few years, participating in several research projects about higher education, exploring topics such as malpractices in academia, disadvantaged groups in higher education, student services and guidance, student activism and organising. Before joining the Secretariat, Aleksandra worked as a consultant at the OECD's Directorate for Education and Skills.
Support the Register: analyse applications & Substantive Change Reports, review & update information, guidance for agencies
DEQAR: general management and maintenance, contact with agencies, handling questions from agencies & end users, maintaining data on HEIs
Support desk research, analyses, surveys and reports related to quality assurance and recognition in the context of the IMINQA, TPG-LRC CoRE and QA-FIT projects
Anna has almost 10 years of experience working in quality assurance of higher education, and previously worked for the European University Association (EUA).
Job Titles:
- Acting Head of the Secretariat
Annelies Traas joined the EQAR Secretariat in 2009. She has a Master Degree in European Studies (Amsterdam) and complemented her degree with a post-graduate degree in European Law (Bilbao, Spain). Previously, Annelies has held various positions (operations manager, legal advisor, director of the board of an international pre-school in New-York) in different fields of expertise (non-profit organisations, business incubation, financial services, education), based in different countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Malta, USA and Austria).
Beate Treml has been working at the OeAD, Austria's Agency for Education and Internationalisation, Bologna Service Office since May 2019,
In addition, she has been active as an independent consultant on higher education policy and trainer in students' organisations' capacity building in Austria and internationally since 2014.
Job Titles:
- Policy and Project Officer
Blazhe Todorovski joined the Secretariat in October 2022. Blazhe holds a master degree in corporate law (LLM) from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Before joining EQAR he worked as a Review Officer at MusiQuE - Music Quality Enhancement, quality assurance agency for higher music education. Blazhe also served as Vice President of the European Students' Union (2015-2017).
Support the Register: analyse applications & Substantive Change Reports, review & update information, guidance for agencies
Support desk research, analyses, surveys and reports related to quality assurance and recognition in the context of the IMINQA, TPG-LRC CoRE and QA-FIT projects
Plan and implement meetings and events for the IMINQA, TPG-LRC CoRE and QA-FIT projects
Job Titles:
- Board Member for Ashridge Business School
Carolyn is currently the external Academic Board member for Ashridge Business School, a UK degree granting institution, and of the International Advisory Committee of the Lumina Foundation in the United States of America. Over the last eighteen months she has represented the UK in the Structural Reform Working Group in the Bologna Process and is an ex officio member of the UK Bologna Stakeholders Forum.
Carolyn's research interests include the regulation, quality assurance and internationalisation of higher education. She has contributed to British Council, European Commission, OECD and UNESCO publications and projects on cross border higher education and quality assurance, and most recently co-authored an international comparator study on the assessment of quality for the funding councils in the UK.
Job Titles:
- Chief Product Owner Quality Assurance at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
- QA Advisor at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
The Database of External Quality Assurance Results (DEQAR) has been supported by the European Union's Erasmus+ programme through different projects. The European Commission support for the production of this study does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Eltjo Bazen is Chief Product Owner Quality Assurance at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (HU UAS).
Eltjo is active in several Dutch and European networks concerning quality and quality assurance in professional higher education. He has been trained and is active in several auditing roles, such as a chair of internal auditing panels at HU UAS Utrecht, member of institutional audit panels abroad and as assessor in EFQM. Though he loves innovative ideas and experimenting, his firm belief is that the best way to improve is openness and the willingness to learn from each other, whether it be on programme, institutional or system level.
Job Titles:
- Policy and Project Officer
Giorgi Munjishvili joined the Secretariat in January 2024.
Giorgi holds a master degree in Education Administration from the Ilia State University in Tbilisi (Georgia) and did a one-year mobility in Political Sciences at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany). Giorgi worked at the European University in Tbilisi as Head of the Strategic Development Office, and before that as Head of Quality Assurance and Strategic Development.
He also worked at NCEQE, the National Center For Educational Quality Enhancement (one of EQAR's registered agencies) as Deputy Head of Planning, Research, and International Relations.
Support the Register: analyse applications & Substantive Change Reports, review & update information, guidance for agencies
DEQAR: general maintenance, contact with agencies, handling questions from agencies & end users, maintaining data on HEIs
Support desk research, analyses, surveys and reports related to quality assurance and recognition in the context of the IMINQA, TPG-LRC CoRE and QA-FIT projects
Horia Onița is President of the European Students' Union (ESU)
He represents ESU in positions such as as co-chair of the Drafting Committee of 2024 Tirana Communique, co-chair of the Bologna Follow-Up group on Social Dimension and member of European Quality Assurance Register Board and BFUG Board.
Job Titles:
- Inga Lapiņa Is a Professor and Vice - Dean for Study at the Riga Technical University ( RTU )
Inga holds a Doctor`s degree in Economics and a Master of Science in Education; she also has a Professional Master's degree in Economics with a specialisation in Statistics. She has over 25 years of experience in higher education management, research, quality assessment and international project management.
Since 2008, Inga has worked in more than 30 peer-review experts teams evaluating higher education institutions, study directions and programmes. She is appointed Deputy-Chair of the Study Quality Commission in Latvia.
Job Titles:
- Inga Lapiņa Is a Professor and Vice - Dean for Study at the Riga Technical University ( RTU )
Inga Lapiņa is a Professor and Vice-Dean for Study at the Riga Technical University (RTU)
Jakub Grodecki is Policy & Project Manager at EURASHE
Jakub was previously Vice-President of the European Students' Union (ESU), where he helped develop the organisation's advocacy and built its capacity in the area of Quality of Higher Education, Students' Participation in HE Governance, Bologna Process, and the developments of the European Education Area. In this capacity Jakub already served one year on the EQAR Executive Board.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chair
- Director of the Central European Institute of Technology ( CEITEC ), the Research Centre of the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic
Director of the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC), the research centre of the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic
Jiří is a lawyer by education, served as a deputy minister for strategy and legislation and was a Lecturer in Public Administration,
Job Titles:
- Lewis Purser Is Director ( Learning, Teaching & Academic Affairs ) at the Irish Universities Association
Prior to joining IUA in 2005, Lewis worked at the European University Association and with several United Nations agencies in educational, health and social fields. He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies at the University of Geneva.
Lewis has contributed to more than 25 evaluations of university quality assurance in over 15 European countries since 1998. While these have mostly been with the Institutional Evaluation Programme (of which Lewis is currently a steering committee member), he has also been a member of expert evaluation panels with national agencies in Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Latvia and Switzerland.
Maria Arminda Bragança was member of the National Council of Education from 1992-1997 and from 2009-2013 and has integrated different Working Groups and Committees:
Job Titles:
- Vice - President
- Is Director of the Institutional Development Unit ( EUA )
Maria Kelo is director of the Institutional Development Unit (EUA),
Before joining EUA in January 2022, Maria was for over a decade the Director of ENQA, the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher as well as member of the EQAR Executive Board in 2013-2020. She took part in European policy making processes within the Bologna Process and through cooperation with the European Commission.
Job Titles:
- Vice - Rector at the University of Agribusiness
Patricia Georgieva is Vice-Rector at the University of Agribusiness and Rural Development in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where she has been in charge of Quality Assurance and Accreditation since 2014.
Patricia Georgieva obtained a Master degree in Education at the Faculty of Philosophy in St. Kliment Ohridski university in Sofia, followed by a PhD degree at the same university. She was a Head of Higher Education Research Department at the National Institute of Education and specialised in the field of quality assurance at the Institute of Education in London University (1996-1997).
Patricia Georgieva was a member of the International Accreditation Council of AKKORK (2015-2019), Secretary General of the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency of Bulgaria (2002-2008) and co-opted Board member of ENQA (2004-2005; 2008). She served as a Review Panel secretary and Review-Panel member in ENQA coordinated quality reviews of agencies (EUA, 2009; AKKORK- Russian Federation, 2011 and 2014; NOKUT- Norway, 2013; HCERES- France, 2016).
Former Professor in constitutional, administrative and education law at Tilburg University, the Netherlands
Paul Zoontjens is a specialist in higher education law and has given a lot of lectures in this field. He also advices the Ministry and institutions on this subject. Until his retirement he was chairman of the examinations committee of Tilburg Law School. He was chairman of the internal Appeals Committee of the Flemish Council of Universities with respect to (visitation) reports on quality assurance, which are the main element in the procedure to reach (extension of) official accreditation.
Job Titles:
- Project Reporting & Finance Officer
Pooja joined the EQAR Secretariat in November 2020 as staff member, having worked already for EQAR in 2019 as temporary agency worker to coordinate the DEQAR project financial reporting.
She has a Master degree from KU Leuven in International Business Economics and Management, and a degree in Commerce from India. Prior to joining EQAR she worked as a tax consultant, project reporting officer, finance assistant and tax analyst at various international organisations, based in India, Belgium and London.
She has also been active in the development of higher education as, e.g. a national coordinator for the Finnish Bologna implementation in 2002-2005 and a member of the Finnish Bologna Promoters'/Experts' Team in 2006-2013 and several other national working groups and projects. In 2015-2016 she was chairing a Nordic working group for quality in higher education, appointed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Job Titles:
- Vice Rector of the University of Turku, Finland
Riitta Pyykkö is Vice Rector of the University of Turku, Finland. In this capacity, she is responsible for academic affairs, as well as quality management.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director for Higher Education at the Croatian Agency for Science
Sandra Bezjak is Assistant Director for Higher Education at the Croatian Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE).
During the first years at the agency, she was included in the setting up of the national QA scheme in HE in line with ESG and good international practices. Her work and topics of interest are especially related to institutional and program accreditations, and in recent years, to the implementation of the CroQF, the European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint programmes and cross-border evaluations.
Sandra Bezjak was a member of the ENQA Agency Review Committee in its first term (2021-2023) and participated as expert in several ENQA agency reviews (as a panel member, secretary and a chair). She also participated in several international projects with a focus on strengthening some of the EHEA agencies and their alignment with ESG, especially in the region of South-Eastern Europe.
Job Titles:
- CAIP Commission Member
- Steffen Westergard Andersen Is Director of Operations in the Danish Accreditation Institution
He previously worked as Senior Consultant in Ramboll Management Consulting, where he was project director of large international contracts with the EU, the World Bank and the ADB with a focus on capacity building in the public sector. Later he also worked with national and European evaluations, and with analysis of impact of EU policy. Steffen Westergard Andersen also spent 4 years in Brussels with responsibility for Intra-Community Affairs in the Red Cross EU Office.
He holds a Master's degree in Public Governance from the Copenhagen Business School and a BA in Management and Organization. Originally, he was formed as a Master of Political Science at the University of Aarhus.
Steffen Westergard Andersen is a CAIP commission member in the Catalan accreditation institution AQU Catalunya, situated in Barcelona. He is also active in quality assurance discussions at a European level, and he is currently involved in the EU/ASEAN SHARE project, where he is taking part in peer reviews of quality assurance institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- President
- President of EQAR, Has a Mandate until 1 July 2026
Stéphane Lauwick is the former Secretary-General of ADIUT (the French network of University Institutes of Technology), and former President of EURASHE
He started his career at the University of Le Havre Normandy (FR) where he was head of the Electrical Engineering department.
Stéphane Lauwick, as President of EQAR, has a mandate until 1 July 2026.
Stéphane Lauwick has extensive experience not only in the French higher education sector, at the University Institute of Technology (IUT) in Le Havre, but also at a European level, as former President of EURASHE.
Stéphane was elected as President of EQAR at the General Assembly in Stockholm, in May 2023. He can be reached via the following email: stephane.lauwick@eqar.eu.
Tatjana Volkova is an international expert in such organisations as IEP EUA, ENQA and DAAD and has held positions such as member of the Swiss Accreditation Council (Switzerland) (2015-2022), chair of Extended Steering Committee member of the IEP, EUA (Belgium) (2019- 2023), President of the Rector's Conference of Latvia (2004 - 2011), member of the European University Association Council (EUA), Brussels (2004-2011) and Rector of BA School of Business and Finance (2004 - 2011) (Latvia).
She carried out many international Institutional and study program evaluations on behalf of international organisations in more than 30 countries globally.
Previously, Vanja Ivošević was Senior Expert on Skills and Mobility at the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), an all-inclusive, regionally-owned and led cooperation framework on subjects which are important and of interest to the the South East Europe (SEE).