EAIR Forum 2025
Professor Ellen Hazelkorn
Professor Ellen Hazelkorn is Joint Managing Partner, BH Associates education consultants. She is Joint Editor, Policy Reviews in Higher Education and Professor emerita, Technological University Dublin (Ireland). She is affiliated to the Centre for Global Higher Education, Oxford and the Centre for International Higher Education, Boston College.
Ellen has been appointed to the Expert Panel on Further Education and Training (FET/TVET) Practitioners Staffing Structures by the Irish Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science, the EU Higher Education for Smart Specialisation (HESS) Advisory Group, and the Committee for Strategic Advice, EURASHE – the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education. She was a member of the Commission for the College of the Future (UK) (2018-2022) and the Quality Board for Icelandic Higher Education (2017-2023). She was Vice President, Dublin Institute of Technology (now TU Dublin) (1995-2015), and President of EAIR (European Society for Higher Education), 2013-2016.
Ellen has been appointed to the Expert Panel on Further Education and Training (FET/TVET) Practitioners Staffing Structures by the Irish Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science, the EU Higher Education for Smart Specialisation (HESS) Advisory Group, and the Committee for Strategic Advice, EURASHE – the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education. She was a member of the Commission for the College of the Future (UK) (2018-2022) and the Quality Board for Icelandic Higher Education (2017-2023). She was Vice President, Dublin Institute of Technology (now TU Dublin) (1995-2015), and President of EAIR (European Society for Higher Education), 2013-2016.
Ellen has worked with UNESCO, the European Commission, the World Bank, and governments and HEIs around the world for over 20 years. She was policy advisor to, and board member of, the Higher Education Authority (Ireland) (2011-2017). As a consultant to the OECD Programme for Institutional Management of Higher Education (2001-2010), Ellen initiated and led two projects. She was Chairperson/Lead Author, Science for Responsible Citizenship, EU Expert Group on Science Education (2014) and Rapporteur/Lead Author, Assessing Europe’s University-based Research, EU Expert Group on Assessing University-Based Research (2009).
Ellen is currently advising the Irish Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on its policy: Progressing a Unified Tertiary System for Learning, Skills and Knowledge, and is UNESCO Lead/Coordinator of the CFIT III project to develop higher technical education in six African countries. Inter alia, she has undertaken a Mid-Term Review of the Further Education and Training Strategy, Ireland (2023); UNESCO Lead, Develop 5-year Higher Education Policy and Action Plan for Lebanon (Ministry of Education & Higher Education/UNESCO, 2021); UNESCO Lead, Review and Enhancement of the Accreditation System of St Kitts-Nevis (Ministry of Education and UNESCO, 2021-2023); and undertook a Review of Post-Compulsory Education in Wales (Department for Education and Skills, Welsh Government, 2015-2016) – now being implemented as the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (CTER).
Ellen has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, short articles and blogs, and policy and consultancy reports. She is a member of several editorial boards, including Tertiary Education and Management, Higher Education, European Journal of Higher Education, and Higher Education Policy. She was guest co-editor of Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (2022-2023).
Ellen is currently advising the Irish Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on its policy: Progressing a Unified Tertiary System for Learning, Skills and Knowledge, and is UNESCO Lead/Coordinator of the CFIT III project to develop higher technical education in six African countries. Inter alia, she has undertaken a Mid-Term Review of the Further Education and Training Strategy, Ireland (2023); UNESCO Lead, Develop 5-year Higher Education Policy and Action Plan for Lebanon (Ministry of Education & Higher Education/UNESCO, 2021); UNESCO Lead, Review and Enhancement of the Accreditation System of St Kitts-Nevis (Ministry of Education and UNESCO, 2021-2023); and undertook a Review of Post-Compulsory Education in Wales (Department for Education and Skills, Welsh Government, 2015-2016) – now being implemented as the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (CTER).
Ellen has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, short articles and blogs, and policy and consultancy reports. She is a member of several editorial boards, including Tertiary Education and Management, Higher Education, European Journal of Higher Education, and Higher Education Policy. She was guest co-editor of Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research (2022-2023).