Vito Borrelli

Vito Borrelli is a European Commission official in charge of coordinating the implementation of the Erasmus Mundus programme. More specifically, in 2008 he has actively participated in the negotiation of the second phase of the programme with the European Parliament and Council.

He is also responsible for the relations with RELEX and AIDCO (notably as concerns the coordination with the External Cooperation Window initiative), the sectoral policy dialogue with China, the management of studies and surveys, and the representation of the Commission vis-à-vis the authorities and institutions in EU and third countries. Vito has many years of experience at the European Commission, DG Education and Culture, where he has worked since 1994. Before taking up his current responsibilities, he was involved in information and communication activities at the European Commission, and the programme management of Leonardo da Vinci.

Vito has studied Humanities (English/Russian Languages and Literatures) and began his career as a teacher and a translator.

Angelika Sachsenroeder is Head of Unit 513 in DAAD. In this capacity she is acting as Head of the German National TEMPUS Contact Point (NCP). She is providing consultancy for German higher education institutions on TEMPUS and other EU programmes for higher education cooperation with third countries. In this context she is closely cooperating with the European Commission in Brussels and with universities all over the world in the field of internationalisation. She is editing the DAADeuroletter, a magazine which is offering detailed information on EU-funding possibilities in higher education. During the past years she has been a frequent speaker at international conferences and seminars.

In 1992 Angelika Sachsenroeder joined the DAAD after returning from a several years stay in Singapore. In 1999 she was seconded to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to join the German EU-Presidency team. Up to now she has been engaged in EU activities for over ten years. Between 2001 and 2005 she developed and launched the Carlo-Schmid-Programme, a unique funding initiative which offers internship placements in International Organisations such as UN Offices and their specialised agencies.

A student in humanities (French and English linguistics and literature) in Heidelberg , Bonn and Cologne with long-term stays in France and UK she passed her first state examination for a secondary teacher in 1964. After her second state examination in 1966 she worked as a grammar school teacher until 1986.

Claude SAUVAGEOT is the Head of Sector for European and International Relation at the Directorate of Evaluation, Forecast and Performance in the Ministry of Education. This sector is in charge of all matters related to the European and International Affairs linked with Statistics, Indicators, Evaluation and Forecast since June 2006. He is also the Chairperson of the Ines Working Party (OCDE) since March 2008, the Vice-Chair of the INES Advisory group (OCDE) since November 2008. Mr. Sauvageot is the French Representative on CERI (Centre for Research and Innovation in Education) since July 2004 and in the Standing Group for Indicators and Benchmarks of the European Commission since June 2006. He is also an Associate Professor in Education Sciences at Paris Descartes University at the Faculty of Letters and Humanities Paris Sorbonne: courses in educational economics to degree and Master level. Mr. Sauvageot was in charge of the organisation of a French Presidency conference on ‘International comparison in education: a European model? (13-14 November 2008 Paris). He is also an author or co-author of many articles about indicators and information systems, international comparisons and vocational education and training.

Peter van der Hijden is Head of Sector Higher Education  Policy  in the Unit Higher Education – Erasmus of the European Commission Education and Culture DG. He promotes the Modernisation Agenda for Universities, as part of the Education and Training 2010 Work Programme of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs.

Peter van der Hijden has worked for the European Commission since 1991, mainly in the field of education, but also in the transport sector. He has contributed to the organisation of the Erasmus programme, recognition of degrees (ENIC-NARIC), credits (ECTS), and quality assurance (ENQA). More recent tasks include the promotion of learning outcomes as part of Qualifications Frameworks (EQF, Bologna, Tuning), the development of transparency instruments (Classification, Ranking, European Database, Tuning-Learning Outcomes and Competences) Peter van der Hijden represents the European Commission in the Bologna Follow-Up Group. He studied law in Nymegen, Leyden and Maastricht. Before joining the European Commission, he worked for ten years as university administrator at University Maastricht.

Hanneke Luth is the first President of the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA), elected in October 2007. She has studied in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Germany and the United States of America completing degrees in law and economics. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD degree in a European Doctorate programme, a cooperation between the universities or Bologna, Hamburg and the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Hanneke has been active in EMA from the very first beginning of the association in 2006. As President, Hanneke has been offering advice on European Higher Education policy issues both to the European Commisson and the European Parliament. The European Commission agrees that the Erasmus Mundus Programme would not have reached its current success without EMA. Through EMA and it’s members, the Erasmus Mundus Programme and European Higher Education in general get promoted by the most enthusiastic and credible sources of information: the students themselves.

Bernd Wächter is the Director of the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA). In this capacity, which he has held since 1998, he bears overall responsibility for the implementation of all ACA policy. Earlier on (1995 – 1997), he was the Head of the Erasmus Department in the then Socrates and Youth TAO, which implemented the centralised parts of the Erasmus Programme on behalf of the European Commission. Between 1992 and 1995, he headed the German national agency for the Erasmus Programme inside the DAAD, which also had important national information functions for the COMETT, LINGUA and TEMPUS schemes. His experience with internationalisation also relates to the institutional level, through his functions as head of the international office of the Fachhochschule Darmstadt, and as a departmental coordinator of international relations at the Gesamthochschule Kassel. He has also worked for the British Council. Bernd Wächter has published and lectured widely on issues of Europeanisation and internationalisation of higher education. He is the editor of the ACA Papers on International Cooperation in Education.