PhD Manja Klemenčič
no.: 28687

higher education, sociology of higher education, higher education politics, higher education policies, students, student agency, student-centered learning and teaching, student representation, student politics, student voice, student engagement, academic profession, conditions of academic work, quality assurance in higher education, higher education internationalization, evaluations of effectiveness in higher education, institutional research

Manja Klemenčič researches, teaches, advises, and acts as a consultant in sociology and politics of higher education, European higher education, and various policy instruments in areas of impact monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance and institutional research, regional innovation ecosystems and international collaboration. Her current research project is on student agency in European Universities Alliances (funded by the Slovenian Research Agency). Her major theoretical contribution is in the study of student governments and student representation in higher education which is part of a broader research agenda on student agency and the effects of students on higher education. Klemenčič has over 150 publications and over 80 keynotes and invited lectures on a broad array of higher education topics, including student-centered learning and teaching, quality assurance and institutional research, civic role of higher education, academic profession, internationalization, and different aspects of higher education reforms. Her most recent publications include The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education (2024) and The Routledge International Handbook on Student Centred Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (2020). She has been an invited keynote speaker at major conferences of European academic associations. Her three staple courses offered at Harvard have repeatedly won awards for teaching excellence. Six times in a row, she was voted by the Harvard Yearbook Publications one of the most impactful professors by the graduating class (’19, ’20, ’21, ’22, ’23, ‘24). In 2020, she received John R. Marquand Award for Excellence in Advising and Support to Students, and in 2021, she is the recipient of the Phi Beta Kappa Alpha-Iota Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Harvard College, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Since 2014, Klemenčič serves as Editor-in-Chief of European Journal of Higher Education, since 2015, as Co-editor of the academic book series Understanding Student Experiences in Higher Education (Bloomsbury) and from July 2022, as Co-editor of book series Higher Education Dynamics (Springer). She regularly serves as a consultant for European Commission, other international organizations, and governments on higher education policies and instruments. Most recently, she was involved in developing indicator framework for evaluating impact of European Universities Initiative (with PPMI).