Prof. Dr. Rahmi Deniz Özbay is the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at Istanbul Commerce University and has been serving as a Professor in the Department of Economics at the same university since 2022. He also served as Vice Rector at Istanbul Commerce University between 2023 and 2024. He spent most of his academic career at Marmara University, where he worked as a faculty member in the Department of Economics from 1992 to 2022. He held the title of Associate Professor between 2011 and 2016 and was later promoted to Professor. He completed his undergraduate studies in Business Administration at Marmara University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (1983–1987), his master’s degree at the Social Sciences Institute (1990–1992), and his PhD at the same institute in 2003. His master’s thesis focused on Ottoman public finance in the second half of the nineteenth century, and his doctoral dissertation examined state labor employment in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. His research area is primarily economic history within the broader field of social sciences and humanities.

Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at the Lebanese University 

Full Professor
Accreditation to Supervise Research (HDR)

Expert in Higher Education Quality & Accreditation

Coordinator of the Sub-Network on Employability at the Mediterranean Universities Union - UNIMED, The Sub-Network on Employability at UNIMED includes 21 Universities from 11 countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.
http://www.uni-med.net/fr/sous-reseau-employabilite/Board

Former Director of the Mutual Fund of Lebanese University Professors

Founder of the Centre MINE (Centre for Careers, Innovation and Entrepreneurship) at the Lebanese University;

Co-Founder of MILES (Momentum Incubator for Lebanese Startups) at the Lebanese University

Researcher in Finance - Innovation - Management at the Socio-Economic Institute of Firms and Organizations, Research Center associated to the IAE of Lyon, University Jean Moulin, Lyon III

Former Chairman "Finance and Financial Institutions" Department at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Branch III 

Trainer on Participative learning and Innovative teaching methodologies [from the International Training Centre (ITC) at the International Labor Organization (ILO), Torino, Italy]

Expert, Member of the Technical Committee Specialized in the programs study at the Directorate General of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon

Prof. Dr. Hüsamettin Ekici is a veterinarian and academic specializing in veterinary pharmacology and toxicology. He received his PhD in 2011 and was promoted to Professor in 2024, reflecting his sustained scientific contributions. He currently serves as Head of Department and Editor-in-Chief of an international scientific journal. At Kırıkkale University, he holds key positions within the Scientific and Technological Research Center, including Board Membership, Head of Residue Analysis Laboratory, Head of Experimental Animal Laboratory, and Vice Chair of the Local Ethics Committee. He is also an active member of HADMEK, the Veterinary Specialization Board, the National Red Meat Council (representing the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association), and the Veterinary Education Accreditation Committee. Additionally, he serves as a TÜRKAK External Technical Expert, GLP Inspector, and Halal Accreditation Lead Technical Expert, contributing to national and international accreditation and regulatory processes, including commissions under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Since September 1998, Francesc Pedró has been a professor of educational policy in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona), a position to which he has returned after twenty years at the OECD and UNESCO (2005-2025).

He was Director of the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNESCO IESALC) between 2019 and 2025. Previously, he led the education policy advisory service, including national policy reviews and international comparative studies in the education sector at UNESCO in Paris (France) since 2010. Before that, he worked at the OECD's Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), where, as a senior policy analyst, he was responsible for projects such as the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the New Millennium Learners Project. He also led reviews of educational research in OECD countries and the Systemic Innovation in Education project. 
He graduated in education from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and obtained a doctorate with a thesis on comparative education from the UNED (Madrid). He subsequently undertook postdoctoral studies in Comparative Public Policy at the Institute of Education, University of London (United Kingdom). 
He taught at the UNED (Madrid), the Ramon Llull University (Barcelona), and the Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona), the first European public university to offer its courses exclusively online, where he was vice-chancellor from its founding in 1994 until 1998. He became the vice-rector for teaching quality at UPF until 2005, when he moved to the OECD.

His most recent books are: Working out Change: Systemic Innovation in Education and Training (2009), Are the New Millennium Learners Making the Grade? Technology Use and Educational Performance in PISA (2010), Inspired by Technology, Driven by Pedagogy (2010), Tecnología y Educación: lo que funciona y por qué (2011), Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners (2012), Le numérique: une chance pour l'école (2013), Tecnologías para la transformación de la educación (2017), Promising Education Policy Levers. Govenance, leadership, and assessment (2018) and Guidelines for Education Policy Reviews (2020).

Theodor currently works at the University of Augsburg and at Evaluation Agency Baden-Württemberg (Heidelberg). He does research in evaluation, governance and quality management in higher education. He also works in philosophy of science, epistemology and ethics. Recent projects concerned performance indicators, digital competences and learning and teaching spaces in higher education. A new project (HORIZON-RIA) is "European youth in education and in transition to the labour market" (2025-27).

Dr Kethamonie Naidoo is an independent higher education quality assurance specialist. She was until 2024, the CEO and Executive Director of the Quality Assurance Authority (QAA) in Mauritius. Prior to that, she served as Director of Accreditation at the Council on Higher Education (CHE) in South Africa for more than a decade, where she led the conceptualisation of the new Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) and the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) alignment project. She spent many years in university executive management, responsible for portfolios of academic development, support and planning; quality assurance; equal opportunities; and counselling. She has also worked as a management consultant in higher education and business management. Her postgraduate qualifications include a DEd, MBA (cum laude), MA (Hons), BEd, BA, UDE and Diploma in Special Education. She served on the Advisory Board of the international forum, Improving University Teaching (IUT) for more than a decade, and is currently on the Editorial Board of the international journal, Quality in Higher Education. She also served as the South African Quality Assurance ambassador on the joint AU/EU project on the Harmonisation of Quality Assurance in Africa (HAQAA) which produced the African Standards and Guidelines (ASG) on Quality Assurance.

Prof. Dr. Mustafa YİPEL completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Selçuk University, in 2006, and his doctoral studies in the Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Institute of Health Sciences, Ankara University, in 2012. In 2013, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, and in 2016, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018, appointed as an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University in 2020, and appointed as a Professor in 2024.

His main research area is  human/animal/environmental toxicology (wildlife toxicology, experimental in vivo toxicological models, pollutant/contaminant/residue/toxin analysis/monitoring  human/animal health and  ecotoxicological risk assessment, etc.)

JOB POSITION: Vice-Rector for Internationalization and Quality Evaluation University Professor

2007 – present: University Professor – Ph.D. supervisor

2006 – 2007: University Professor

2002 – 2006: University Associate Professor

1998 – 2002: University Lecturer

1994 – 1998: University Assistant 

1992 – 1994: University Junior Assistant

Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania, www.unitbv.ro.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering/ Chair of Precision Mechanics and Mechatronics (until 2011).

Teaching lectures, laboratory and project activities, scientific research. Business or sector: education and scientific research.

QUALIFICATIONS

Ph.D. in Economics, University of Granada, Spain (dissertation)

M.A. in Public Administration, University of Granada, Spain

M.A. in Management Sciences, University of Granada, Spain

B.A. in Business Studies, University of Granada, Spain

HONORS

Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York, USA. 2003–2004 (24 months). (more...)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

economics of education; labor economics; university efficiency; applied microeconomics; financial education

Dr. Fabrizio Trifiró is an international expert in quality assurance and international education. He is the Programme Director of the Education World Forum, the largest annual gathering of ministers of education, and Senior TNE and Quality Assurance Advisor for Times Higher Education. He sits on the Board of Directors of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, and is an independent Governor of Wrexham University.

Fabrizio worked for over 10 years with the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher (QAA), where he led the quality assurance of TNE, strategic international engagement with other quality assurance bodies, and the international student experience. More recently, he led on international stakeholder engagement and the recognition of TNE qualifications for UK ENIC, the national qualification recognition body. In 2022, he supported the Office for Students (OfS) in England as an independent consultant in developing their international engagement strategy to support their oversight of English TNE.

Fabrizio is a senior consultant with the Hong Kong Council for the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) and acts as a reviewer for a range of international quality assurance bodies.

Fabrizio holds an integrated Master’s degree in Philosophy and an MA in Human Rights and Humanitarian Interventions from the University of Bologna (Italy), a MSc in Comparative and Cross-Cultural Research Methods from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Political Theory from the University of London. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Trinity College Dublin researching the emergence of a global civil society.

Mary Catharine Lennon, PhD, is a global higher education strategist and executive leader known for 
advancing quality assurance, regulatory coherence, and evidence-informed policy across diverse 
systems. She specializes in leading complex, multi-stakeholder processes, steering sector-wide 
consultations, and driving system-level change. Dr. Lennon has held senior roles in research, 
strategy, and international engagement, including serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer of 
INQAAHE, a global association of quality assurance agencies spanning more than 140 countries. 
Her professional experience includes leadership positions focused on regulatory policy, 
international collaboration, and system-level strategy, alongside oversight of major research and 
special project portfolios.

Professor Macfarlane is a social philosopher of higher education who has developed conceptual frameworks for interpreting academic practice, ethics, and leadership. Applying a mix of empirical and philosophical enquiry, he has helped to define key concepts including academic integrity, academic citizenship, intellectual leadership, and student performativity. His research focuses on the micro or individual level but is framed by the way academic identity is being re-shaped by the changing conditions affecting university life. His major works include Freedom to Learn (2016), Intellectual Leadership in Higher Education (2012), Researching with Integrity (2009), The Academic Citizen (2007) and Teaching with Integrity (2004).