Alenka Flander

ACA Vice-President / Director, Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Educational and Training Programmes - CMEPIUS

Short Bio Alenka is the Director of ACA’s Slovene member organisation – the Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Educational and Training Programmes (CMEPIUS), the leading Slovene institution in the field of internationalisation of education and training. In that capacity she is responsible for the implementation of EU programmes (Erasmus+) in Slovenia with a strong focus on achieving sustainable impact of the projects and programme and ensuring effective dissemination and integration of programme results into institutional and national systems and practices. Alenka was trained as an electrical engineer and completed her PhD in the Political Science. Her research work is interdisciplinary in nature and encompasses monitoring and measuring the impact of European programmes in the area of education and training, and research on internationalisation and higher education. She contributed to national or international expert groups (i.e. EUROSTUDENT, EAIE Task Force) and is author of several publications and articles on internationalisation in higher education and academic profession.In internationalisation, she was behind the preparation of Slovene Strategy for internationalisation of higher education adopted in 2016.

Katarzyna Aleksy

ACA Treasurer / Director of Department - Programmes for Institutions at NAWA - Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange

Short Bio Katarzyna Aleksy is the Director of Department – Programmes for Institutions at NAWA Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. In 2017 she worked on the concept of the creation and operation of NAWA at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Prior to her leadership at NAWA, she worked at the National Agency for Erasmus, and in 2012 she became the Director of the Scholarship Programmes within the EEA and Norway Grants, as well as Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme. In 2020, she received the award of IROs Forum - a network of the international offices of leading Polish state universities for her outstanding contribution to the internationalisation of education at Polish universities, innovative approach and vision. In the last three years she has presented and been a speaker in sessions organised during APAIE, NAFSA and EAIE conferences, as well as in many national events. In 2021, she was designated by the Ministry of Education and Science to the advisory committee on the European Universities Initiative. Presently at NAWA she also coordinates projects funded from the European Social Fund.

Stephan Geifes

Director, Erasmus+ National Agency Higher Education within the German Academic Exchange Service - DAAD, Germany

Short Bio Dr. Stephan Geifes is the Director of the Erasmus+ National Agency Higher Education within the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since Feb 1, 2020. He has been working for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) since 1999. Before his current position he was Head of Division Transnational Education and Cooperation Programmes at the DAAD in Bonn since 2013. Prior to this position he was Director of the DAAD Paris Office from 2001 to 2005, Secretary General of the Franco-German University (FGU) from 2005 to 2008, and Scientific Coordinator at the German Historical Institute of Paris from 2008 to 2012. Geifes has studied History, Sociology, Roman Languages and Political Sciences at the University of Bielefeld, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris (EHESS) and at the Institute d’Études politques (IEP) in Paris. After earning a Master’s degree in History from the University of Bielefeld he continued his studies at the École nationale d’administration (ENA) in Paris. He has a PhD in History from the University of Bochum and has published on international higher education exchange.

Runa Vigdís Guðmarsdóttir

Director, Erasmus+ National Agency within Rannis, Iceland

Short Bio Rúna Vigdís Guðmarsdóttir has worked on internationalisation in education since 2007, when she joined the Icelandic National Agency for the Lifelong Learning Programme. She was seconded to the Erasmus+ Higher Education team at DG Education and Culture from 2013 to 2017, working first and foremost on programme management and impact assessment. She was responsible for outgoing student mobility from the University of Iceland until 2018, when she took over her role as the team leader for higher education at Rannís – The Icelandic Centre for Research, which serves as the Erasmus+ National Agency in Iceland. As of 1 January 2021, Rúna is the Director of the National Agency. She holds an undergraduate degree from the Iceland University of Education and two master degrees: in Intercultural Education from Freie Universität Berlin and Applied Linguistics from the University of Sussex. Green and inclusive internationalisation is her favourite topic at work.

Olivier Tschopp

Director, Movetia - Swiss National Agency for Exchange and Mobility, Switzerland

Short Bio Olivier Tschopp acts as Director of the new Swiss national agency Movetia (exchange and mobility) since January 2017. He obtained a master’s degree of arts at the Universities of Lausanne and Neuchâtel in 1992. Before joining Movetia, Olivier was teacher, school director, responsible for the upper secondary and tertiary educational level (professional and vocational education and training - head of the unit training) and general secretary within the department for education of the canton of Jura (Switzerland). During his term he contributed directly to develop an exchange and mobility office. His professional choices are closely linked to "change management", thus starting or setting up new structures or project organizations.

Gerhard Volz

Head, Department for International Cooperation in Higher Education at the OeAD - Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation

Short Bio Gerhard Volz is Head of the recently established Department for International Cooperation in Higher Education at the OeAD (Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation). He is responsible for national and European support schemes in higher education, including Erasmus+ and international collaboration, as well as additional initiatives such as Study in Austria, EURAXESS, and Bologna support projects. Working for the OeAD since 1998, Mr. Volz was initially responsible for higher education cooperation programmes and funding schemes for various regions, such as Central and Eastern Europe, as well as development cooperation programmes worldwide. Between 2007 to 2020 he was acting as Head of Section for Erasmus+ Higher Education and Deputy Director of the National Agency Erasmus+ Austria. Mr. Volz holds a Master’s degree in Political Sciences, History and Educational Sciences (University of Vienna). He has studied and participated in work-related activities in Europe, Caucasus, Asia, Africa.

Vidar Pedersen

European Programmes Director and Norwegian NA Director for Erasmus+, Directorate for Higher Education and Skills - HK Dir, Norway

Short Bio Vidar Pedersen is currently European Programmes Director at HK-dir and also the National Agency Director for Norway for the Erasmus+ programme in education and training. Vidar has held various leadership positions in HK-dir and its predecessors, and during the period 2004-2020 he was a member of the organisation’s management group before taking up his current position. Previously, he worked for the University of Bergen and the University of Agder. Pedersen studied English, German and Scandinavian languages and holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bergen. He has also studied in the U.S., where he was a Fulbright grantee.