The International Advisory Board is composed of five independent and internationally recognized experts in higher education. Its members are not directly affiliated to any of the Alliance’s universities, ensuring objectivity and impartiality.
The International Advisory Board is responsible for monitoring, quality assurance and external advice, including policy advice on the Alliance’s long-term strategy and goals. It provides feedback from an external expert perspective on methodological appropriateness, relevance, integrity, internal coherence and compliance with the established requirements, Work Plan and timelines.
Eva Egron-Polak has been and continues to serve as a member of many Boards and International Advisory Committees of organizations such as the Magna Charta Observatory, the Global Access to Postsecondary Education initiative, and the European University Institute among others.
She was Secretary General of the International Association of Universities from 2002 to 2017 and has promoted and co-authored high-level international reports on higher education. She is the recipient of the Palmes academique from the Government of France and holds a Doctorate honoris causa from Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania, and McMaster University, Canada.
Dr. Harvey Charles is currently Professor of International Education at the University at Albany, SUNY. He has served as Chief International Officer at multiple institutions around the US and is a past President of the Association of International Education Administrators.
Charles regularly publishes in the field, serves on a number of boards, frequently consults with colleges and universities, and gives addresses on international education issues in the US and around the world.
Hélène Bekker is director of ENIC NARIC France, a department of France Education international, since June 2018. She is currently co-chairing Bologna Thematic Peer Group B on the Lisbon Recognition Convention together with her colleagues from Albania and Italy. She is a French Ministry of Education civil servant since 1996. She holds a DESS in Education and Training applied to the field of French as a foreign language from Université Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle and a DEA in English studies from Université Paris IV Sorbonne.
She has over 20 years’ experience in international cooperation and management in the fields of education and culture with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Alliance Française network in Nepal, the UK, Australia, France, Kenya and Ecuador.
Ruth Ladenheim is the founder, Director, and Senior Consultant of CIECTI, Center of Interdisciplinary Studies in Science, Technology, and Innovation, dedicated to the planning, design, evaluation, and prospective analysis of science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies.
She has held high-responsibility positions both in the private and public sectors. In 2008 she joined the Argentinian government and was appointed as Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, heading the Secretariat of Planning and Policies of the Ministry.
Ladenheim has also been Undersecretary of Technology Transfer at the Faculty of Exact & Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires where she has founded INCUBACEN, the Incubator of new tech-based companies.
Tore Li, born in 1959, is an author and consultant, living in Oslo, Norway. He has a PhD in research political history, and holds also a master degree in political science. From 2000 to 2020 Li worked as assistant director at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), Norway’s largest business organization, dealing with research policy issues. Before that Li was science counselor at the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. from 1996 to 2000. Li has also worked in the Norwegian ministry for Education and Research and in the Norwegian Ministry for Industry.
As member of Business Europe’s working group on Research and Innovation from 2000 to 2020, Li has long experience with EU’s research programs. In his last two years in NHO, Li worked also with EU’s Erasmus program.
