Magalie Soenen to become new EQAR Director

Following Colin Tück’s announcement last autumn, that after 15 very rewarding years working for EQAR it was time to look for new adventures, wheels were set in motion to find a successor.

The search has been concluded and we are very pleased to announce that Magalie Soenen will succeed Colin Tück as of 1 May 2023.

Many of us have known Magalie for quite some time, since she is anything but a newcomer in higher education circles. For over 13 years Magalie has been working as Higher Education Policy Advisor for the Ministry of Education and Training of Belgium (Flemish community).

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.

In the last four years, Magalie successfully applied for nine European policy projects (Erasmus+ and KA3). EQAR has (had) the pleasure of working closely with Magalie on several of these projects, such as Microbol, the Staff Mobility project, and IMINQA.

“I am very excited to start working for EQAR to further the development of the European Higher Education Area, together with its members, stakeholders and staff and look forward to a fruitful and meaningful cooperation” says Magalie.

Apart from co-chairing the Thematic Peer Group on QA, Magalie started her career at Ghent University as policy officer in quality assurance and internationalisation, giving her a good insight in the needs and contexts within the EHEA in the field of QA. Her extensive experience as speaker, moderator and panelist in many (international) events and meetings will also come in handy in her new function.

“We are delighted that Magalie Soenen has agreed to be EQAR’s new Director” added President Karl Dittrich. “We have known Magalie for multiple years, have often worked together (and enjoyed doing so) and have seen her “in action” as a committed and true professional. We are confident that she will be a worthy successor of Colin Tück, and all of us in the staff, the Register Committee and in the Executive Board look forward to working with her!”