Structure
General Assembly
Board
The Board is the executive body of the Association. It is responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of ENQA’s activities, taking decisions on membership and affiliation applications, and for the overall management of the Association. It is typically comprised of nine members, including the President, two Vice-Presidents and the Treasurer. Board members are elected by the General Assembly following nominations by ENQA members, and serve terms of three years, renewable once.
Summaries of the Board meetings are available for Members and Affiliates.
Douglas Blackstock
President
ENQA President since 2021 and Board member since 2019. International consultant and former Chief Executive Officer of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in the United Kingdom.
Email: president@enqa.eu
Daniela Cristina Ghițulică
Vice-President
Vice-President of ENQA, serving on the Board since 2018. Director General of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS) based in Bucharest, Romania.
Doris Herrmann
Vice-President
Vice-President of ENQA since 2023, serving on the Board since 2021. Managing Director for the Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation of Study Programmes (AQAS) based in Cologne, Germany.
Patrick Van den Bosch
Treasurer
Member of the ENQA Board since 2021. Head of the Flemish Higher Education Council – Quality Assurance (VLUHR QA) based in Brussels, Belgium.
Péter Levente Lakatos
Member
Member of the ENQA Board since 2023. Director
of International Affairs at the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (MAB) based in Budapest, Hungary.
Marilena Maniaci
Member
Member of the ENQA Board since 2023. Governing Board Member of the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) based in Rome, Italy.
Jolanta Silka
Member
Member of the ENQA Board since 2021. Head of Quality Assurance for Higher Education of the Academic Information Centre (AIC) based in Riga, Latvia.
Ruben Topchyan
Member
Member of the ENQA Board since 2019. Director of the National Centre for Professional Education Quality Assurance Foundation (ANQA) based in Yerevan, Armenia.
Kristin Vinje
Member
Member of the ENQA Board since 2023. Chief Executive at the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) based in Oslo, Norway.
Secretariat
ENQA’s daily administration and management are conducted by the Secretariat, led by the Director. The Secretariat is based in Brussels, Belgium. Individual contact details are available below and general enquiries may be sent to secretariat@enqa.eu.
Anna Gover
Director
Anna Gover is the Director of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). In this role she manages the work of the ENQA Secretariat, works with the ENQA Board to translate the strategic plan into activities for the benefit of the ENQA membership, and represents ENQA in events and meetings across Europe and beyond. In addition she coordinates ENQA’s input to quality assurance policy developments within the Bologna Process and internationally.
Anna has almost 10 years of experience working in quality assurance of higher education, and previously worked for the European University Association (EUA).
Elena Cirlan
Senior Policy and Project Coordinator
Elena Cirlan is a Senior Policy and Project Coordinator at ENQA. Her main tasks include representation of the Association externally, coordination of projects, and management of the Association’s statutory activities.
Before joining ENQA in April 2022, Elena worked for the European University Association (EUA) where she managed EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP), coordinated the annual European Quality Assurance Forum (EQAF) and worked on the implementation of projects related to quality assurance and micro-credentials.
Prior to this, Elena worked in the field of music education and she also completed an internship in the Estonian quality assurance agency (EKKA).
Anaïs Gourdin
Senior Project Manager
Anaïs Gourdin has been a Project Manager at ENQA since July 2018. She first joined ENQA in 2012 as a trainee before becoming an Administrative Assistant, followed by a position as Project and Finance Officer.
Her main tasks include coordinating ENQA’s involvement in several EU projects, such as EQTeL, EQUIP, SHEILA, and TeSLA, as well as managing financial and human resources matters for the association.
Anaïs studied foreign languages applied to international affairs and project management and is a graduate of Université Jean Monnet, Saint Etienne and Aix-Marseille Université.
Goran Dakovic
Head of Agency Reviews
Goran Dakovic is a Head of Agency Reviews at the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), where he oversees the external reviews of quality assurance agencies against the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). Prior to this position, he worked as a Policy & Project Officer for the Institutional Development Unit at the European University Association (EUA), where he focused on areas such as quality assurance, learning & teaching and recognition of qualifications and of prior learning. During his work at EUA, Goran was also involved with the Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP), where he worked mostly on system reviews of higher education sectors.
Before joining ENQA and EUA, Goran held the position of Head of Research Unit at the International School for Social and Business Studies in Slovenia. He has also served as an external assessor of applications for the “HR Excellence in Research Award” since 2015. Goran holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and a master’s degree in Public Policies from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.
Milja Homan
Project and Reviews Officer
Milja Homan has been a Project and Reviews Officer at ENQA since June 2020. Her main tasks include coordinating ENQA’s involvement in the Erasmus+ projects ESQA and BWSE FORward, which aim to support the implementation of the European Higher Education Area reforms. She also coordinates external reviews of quality assurance agencies against the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG).
Milja first joined ENQA in 2016 as an Administrative Officer before becoming a Project Officer in 2018. Prior to this, she worked as an Assistant Policy Adviser in a Finnish regional office in Brussels. She holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Alexis Fábregas Almirall
Project and Reviews Officer
Alexis Fábregas Almirall is a Project and Reviews Officer at ENQA. He coordinates external reviews of quality assurance agencies against the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the EHEA (ESG). He also supports ENQA’s participation in the SEQA-ESG project.
Before joining ENQA in January 2022, Alexis worked as Policy Officer for the European toy sector federation. Prior to that, he was involved as a consultant in projects for clients in several sectors (foreign aid, education, public administration, technology, etc.) Alexis has studied political sciences and European studies at the Pompeu Fabra University (Spain) and the Free University of Brussels (Belgium).
Nathalie Lugano
Project Officer
Nathalie Lugano is a Project Officer at ENQA. She previously worked for ENQA from 2006 to 2015 and joined the association again, on a part-time basis, in 2021. Her role currently involves assisting in ENQA’s contribution to the HAQAA Initiative and SHARE Programme, more specifically in the coordination of external reviews of QA agencies and consultancy visits. She is also contributing to the activities of the SEQA-ESG project (organisation of peer-learning workshops).
Before rejoining ENQA, Nathalie worked as Office and Membership Administrator at EURASHE (European Association of Institutions in Higher Education) where she was responsible for the general administrative management of the office, dealing with finances and HR issues, managing membership relations, supporting communication and project activities, as well as the organisation of events. Most recently, she took part in the FP7 pilot ERA Chair project ERAdiate at the University of Žilina (Slovakia), where she supported research activities, assisted in the preparation of project proposals, notably in relation to quality and risk management, and monitored the quality of project outputs and reports.
Nathalie holds a Master’s in Law and Languages from the University of Grenoble (France), and did a one-year exchange programme at the University of Padova (Italy).
Luis Miranda
Project Officer
Luis Miranda is a Project Officer at ENQA. He joined the ENQA Secretariat in September 2023, and since then he contributes to the deployment of the HAQAA3 initiative and the association’s communication strategy.
Before joining ENQA, Luis worked as a Policy and Project Officer at the European University Association, as a Support Officer for the Ulysseus European University alliance at the University of Seville (Spain), and as a Communication and Project Officer at the European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning (EARLALL). He holds a MA in European Studies from KU Leuven (Belgium).
Julia Rozanska
Administrative Officer
Julia Rozanska joined the ENQA Secretariat in February 2022 as an Administrative Officer. Her main responsibilities involve general administrative management of the office, management of databases and the website, as well as supporting ENQA on the tasks related notably to communication, publications, organisation of events and meetings, etc.
Before joining ENQA she was a trainee in the European Commission (Directorate General for Education and Culture) and worked for SOCABA (Social Capital Bank). Julia holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the KU Leuven. She has also obtained Masters’ degrees in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Cultures and Development Studies (KU Leuven, Belgium) and General Education (University of Warsaw, Poland).
The Appeals and Complaints Committee
The Appeals and Complaints Committee deal with appeals and complaints made in relation to membership decisions taken by the Board and the conduct of procedures in respect to membership matters and ENQA Agency Reviews. Further details of the scope and procedure are available here.
The members of the Appeals and Complaints Committee are:
- Padraig Walsh, Chief Executive, QQI, Ireland
- Núria Comet Señal, Project manager and head of internal quality assurance, ACU Catalunya, Spain
- Aurelija Valeikienė, Deputy Director, SKVC, Lithuania
- Henning Schäfer, Managing Director, ZEvA, Germany (alternate member)
Complaints by third parties against an ENQA member agency are handled separately. Full details are available in the ENQA General Complaints Policy For Third Parties.
The Agency Review Committee
The Agency Review Committee (ARC) is responsible for validating external review reports by assessing the integrity of the review process and checking the quality and consistency of the reports. Further information about the work of the ARC is available here.
The ARC is composed of the following members:
- Alastair Delaney, Executive Director of Operations and Deputy CEO, QAA (United Kingdom)
- Ronny Heintze, Deputy Director for International Development, AQAS (Germany)
- Esther Huertas, Head of Quality Assurance Department, AQU Catalunya (Spain)
- Ulf Hedbjörk, Senior Analyst, UKÄ (Sweden)
- Eva Jaroszewski, Acting Director, AEQES (Belgium)
- Asnate Upmace, Head of Development and International Cooperation Unit, AIC (Latvia)