Sjur Bergan

Sjur Bergan is Head of the Council of Europe’s Education Department. His work at the Council focuses on projects and recommendations on the purposes, values and democratic mission of higher education. Sjur is a member of the Bologna Follow-Up Group and Board and has chaired working groups that were involved in the implementation of structural education reforms. A prolific writer and expert on education, his bibliography is extensive. He is a main author of the ‘Lisbon Recognition Convention’ as well as of recommendations on public responsibility; academic freedom and institutional autonomy; and quality education.  Sjur is series editor of the Council of Europe Higher Education Series and the author of Qualifications: Introduction to a Concept and Not by Bread Alone. He was also one of the editors of the Raabe Handbook on Leadership and Governance in Higher Education and coordinated sessions on the future of the European Higher Education Area at two of the Bologna Researchers’ Conferences.

Sjur received the EAIE Award for Vision and Leadership in 2019 for his crucial role in the Bologna Process, the Lisbon Recognition Convention and the European Qualification Passport for Refugees. His career is an inspiring example of how structural reforms can reflect core higher education values of inclusion and academic freedom.