Secretariat

The Secretariat supports all other bodies in their work, ensures the information exchange between the different bodies, serves as contact point for third parties and represents and promotes EQAR both within the EHEA (European Higher Education Area) as on international level.

Magalie Soenen - Director

  • Management of the Register: general oversight
  • DEQAR: communication with key stakeholders, infrastructure and technical matters
  • External representation
  • Statutory meetings
  • Financial and HR management
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Magalie Soenen has been working for EQAR since 1 May 2023. Prior to joining EQAR, Magalie worked as Higher Education Policy Advisor for the Ministry of Education and Training of Belgium (Flemish community) for more than 13 years.

Not only did she thus represent Belgium (Flemish community) at the EQAR General Assembly, the Members’ Dialogue and even a number of times as observer to the Register Committee, but she also represented the interests of the Flemish Ministry at the Bologna Follow-up Group (BFUG) and many of its working groups.

Within the Bologna Process, Magalie currently co-chairs the Thematic Peer Group on Quality Assurance as well as the Bologna Coordination Group on Global Policy Dialogue. She is also a member of the Working Group on Learning and Teaching, the Bologna Implementation Coordination Group, the task force on Enhancing Knowledge Sharing in the EHEA community and the BFUG Board.

Magalie started her career at Ghent University as policy officer in quality assurance and internationalisation.

Mobile: +32 494 62 02 68
Email: magalie.soenen@eqar.eu

Giorgi Munjishvili - Policy and Project Officer

  • 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
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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.

Phone: +995 577 083 328‬
Email: giorgi.munjishvili@eqar.eu

 

Blazhe Todorovski - Policy and Project Officer

  • 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
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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).

Mobile: + 32 488 37 87 48
Email: blazhe.todorovski@eqar.eu

Annelies Traas - Communications Officer

  • Communication (internal and external) planning and content
  • Organisation and planning of all EQAR events
  • Contact for general and media inquiries
  • IMINQA, TPG-LRC CoRE and QA-FIT projects: communication and dissemination, organisation and planning of events
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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).

Mobile: +32 474 9009 74
Email: annelies.traas@eqar.eu

Pooja Venkatesh - Project Reporting & Finance Officer

  • General finances and accounting
  • Financial reporting and follow-up for the projects that EQAR is involved in
  • Office management and other administrative tasks
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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.

Mobile: +32 474 98 74 04
Email: pooja.venkatesh@eqar.eu

Aleksandra Zhivkovikj - Policy and Project Officer

  • 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
Read more

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.

Mobile: +32 488 04 59 52
Email: aleksandra.zhivkovikj@eqar.eu