Keynote speakers
Lika Glonti
PhD in Neuroscience, Head of the National Erasmus+ Office Georgia
Dr Lika Glonti studied in Georgia (Master) and Germany (PhD). Her basic academic background is in neuroscience, but since last fifteen years she is working in the field of education and is a distinguished expert in postsecondary education policy not only at national, but also regional level.
Dr Lika Glonti participated in numerous applied projects focusing on the fields of higher, vocational and adult education, developing legislative frameworks, strategic documents and reform action plans.
She was pioneer of institutional quality assurance services as head of QA unit at the Tbilisi State University; served as a head of National Accreditation Council for Higher Education and is author of several international publications on this topic.
As team leader of many projects Dr Lika Glonti was coordinating work of different educational institutions, governmental authorities and NGOs, collaborating with local and international experts.
Since 2009 Dr Lika Glonti is coordinator of National Tempus (from 2014 – Erasmus+) Office Georgia and in this position responsible for promoting and supporting EU-Georgia collaboration in the field of higher education.
Christophe Terrasse
PhD in Marketing, Professor, Director of the International Projects Department at European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), Brussels, Belgium.
International Projects Department is in charge of all international projects in the field of technology-enhanced learning, innovation, entrepreneurship, modernisation of Higher Education and capacity building.
Most of these projects are financed by the European Union or other international donor organisations.
Some of the flagship projects of the last years was the creation of the SAQS and CAMAN regional accreditation systems with the financial support of the European Union. This project developed a regional accreditation scheme for Central and South Asian Management HEI. EFMD is also involved in a European project with Georgia and Armenia to develop quality assurance mechanisms for Transnational Education in the Caucasus. EFMD has been maintaining constant contact with universities and business schools from the former Soviet countries to accompany their transition and support them in their development, through the exchanges of good practices and training seminars for quality experts.
Dr. Terrasse holds a degree in Management Sciences from University Paris-Dauphine and obtained his PhD in Marketing at HEC (France). He published many articles on the evolution of management education and the challenge that the movement towards open education represents for Business Schools.
Dr. Terrasse has an extensive experience in cooperation with higher education institutions and participated as an expert or a trainer in many training seminars. He also serves as a marketing professor in many institutions.
Milan Pol
Professor of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.
in his research, education and development activities Milan Pol focuses on the development of schools as institutions, specific organisations and communities and on evaluation, namely in higher education.
His recent research projects concern inclusion in schools as a leadership challenge, leadership of organisational learning in schools, school culture, democracy in schools, and the lives and professional paths of school leaders.
Recent years, he has intensively been involved in quality assurance processes in higher education institutions across Europe. Also, he is serving as the editor-in-chief of education-focused and interdisciplinary-driven academic journal "Studia paedagogica"
(www.studiapaedagogica.cz).
Georgios Dafoulas
Associate Professor in Business Informatics at the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, Great Britain. Programme Leader for BSc Business Information Systems.
Since September 2013 Dr Georgios Dafoulas is appointed as the Director of Programmes in the department, responsible for quality of its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
He has served as the Curriculum Leader in Pedagogy for the institution’s Global Campus delivering higher education programmes in eight countries across three continents. He is currently serving as a member of several committees and working groups implementing the University’s strategy learning, teaching and assessment strategy.
His studies include BSc, MPhil, PhD, PGCert AP from UMIST, and an MBA Exec from Middlesex University. He is currently studying towards an MA in Higher Education, while his holds a BCS Certificate Practitioner of PRINCE2. For his contribution to research informed teaching and scholarly activities he was an Associate Membership for the Institute of Work Based Learning, the Middlesex Teaching Fellowship award (2008) and a Senior Teaching Fellowship award (2015). He has also been nominated twice to represent the University’s submission for UK’s National Teaching Fellowships. He has received extensive training in e-learning practices, development of distance education materials, quality assurance, as well as programme and institutional reviews and audits.
His research is driven by developments in the intersection of Information Systems and Human Computer Interaction. More specifically he is concerned with the investigation of human aspects in information systems development (e.g. communities of practice), effects of computer supported cooperative work in software engineering (e.g. distributed team working), computer mediated communication (e.g. distance and e-learning) and Information and Communication Technologies (e.g. Internet computing and e-commerce). His teaching primarily focuses on Systems Analysis & Design, Strategic Information Systems, e-Business & Internet Commerce and Project Management.
Dr Dafoulas has authored several research papers for refereed journals and peer-reviewed international conferences, mainly in the fields of information systems, computer-supported cooperative work, e-learning, educational technologies and human issues in software engineering. He is the co-author of six books and learning guides. He has also acted as a member of program and organising committees for a number of international conferences and serves as an editorial and reviewer board member for ten journals.
He has attracted funding at national and international level and managed projects holding the roles of principal investigator, project manager and work package coordinator. He is currently involved in two EU-funded Erasmus+ projects, while he has participated in several research proposals that are currently under review. Research partners include British Telecom, IBM, the Department of Trade Industry, and the Global Campus at Middlesex University. Funding bodies include EU, NSF, Socrates, Minerva, AUNP, ERDF, EPSRC, ESRC, and the DTI.
Rafe Smallman
Quality Specialist at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), Gloucester, Great Britain
Rafe Smallman is a Quality Specialist at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), leading reviews and engagement with universities and other organisations involved in the delivery of UK higher education. This includes a particular focus on the international work of the agency.
Rafe recently lead the overseas review of UK higher education delivered in Cyprus and Greece, and has developed a review method for higher education institutions from outside the UK.
Rafe was recently seconded part time at London South Bank University, working on projects related to quality assurance and collaborative activity, as well as supporting the University in its engagement with the Teaching Excellence Framework. Prior to joining QAA Rafe worked within the education and society team of the British Council.
Nguyen Quoc Chinh
PhD, Director of the Center for Educational Testing and Quality Assessment, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.
Dr. Nguyen Quoc Chinh is a Chief Quality Officer at Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM). He got his Master Degree in Science Education from Simon Fraser University, Canada in 1997 and PhD Degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom in 2008.
He worked as Director of Academic Affairs Department, VNU-HCM from 2011 to 2016. Since 2016, he is a Director of Centre for Educational Testing and Quality Assessment, VNU-HCM.
He is an official higher education quality assessor in Viet Nam and in ASEAN University Network (AUN). He has participated in many activities of AUN including: Credit Transfer System, Quality Assurance, Quality Accreditation.
