Dr. Jan Sadlak is also Professor at the Faculty of European Studies of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.  In October 2009, he has been elected as the President of the IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence. He holds PhD (1988) in Educational Administration and Comparative Education from the SUNY/ University of Buffalo, USA, and M.A. (1968) in Economics from “Oskar Lange” Academy of Economics in Wrocław, Poland. In the period October 1999 – July 2009, he has been Director of UNESCO-European Centre for Higher Education (UNESCO-CEPES) and Representative of UNESCO in Romania. Prior to this position he was Chief of Section for Higher Education Policy at UNESCO, Paris [1992 – 1999].

He was awarded several high-level distinctions and six honorary doctorates (Doctor honoris causa) from leading univerisities in Romania, Russian Federation, and Ukraine. He is internationally recognized and cited expert in higher education policy, governance and management at the system and institutional level.  His research interests and publications cover such topics as processes of reform and transformation in higher education and science policy, organization of doctoral studies and qualifications, private higher education, “world-class university”, quality assurance and academic ranking as well as ethical dimension of higher education and academic values.