Ligia Deca: Outstanding vision and leadership 2023

The 2023 EAIE Award winners were announced in August 2023 and at the conference in Rotterdam they will all be given some of the attention they rightfully deserve. In this podcast episode, the EAIE is honoured to have had the opportunity to talk to Ligia Deca, the current minister of Education for Romania and this year’s winner of the EAIE Award for Vision and Leadership.

In the conversation between host Laura Rumbley and minister Deca, several topics are touched upon. How she made her way into the field of international higher education; the lessons she learned from her past student leadership experience as President of the European Students' Union. But also what she feels are some of the top challenges facing international higher education in Europe at the moment, and what kinds of opportunities and challenges she sees for younger women today, to step into a leadership role like the one she currently holds. We also get to hear more about what winning this award means to her at this particular moment in time in her career. Be sure to tune in to this episode of the EAIE podcast to hear more!

About Ligia Deca

Ligia Deca is the Minister of Education of Romania. Before ascending to this role in 2022, she served as Presidential Adviser for Education and Research. She is also a member of Romania's Fulbright Commission Board of Directors.

Ligia co-led ‘Action Track 3: Teachers, Teaching and the Teaching Profession’ within the framework of the 2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit and, since June 2023, was co-opted by the UN Secretary-General as a member of the High-level Panel on the Teaching Profession. Between 2010 and 2012, she was head of the Bologna Secretariat, supporting the Bologna Follow-Up Group within the European Higher Education Area frame.

Ligia has worked as an expert for the Council of Europe, the European Commission, EQAR, DAAD and others and in 2014, she was invited to be a member of the ‘Science in Education’ Expert Group set up by the European Commission. From 2008 to 2010, she was the President of the European Students’ Union. Ligia holds a PhD in Political Science, awarded by the University of Luxembourg in 2016 for her research focusing on the internationalisation of higher education.

Ligia Deca is the recipient of the 2023 EAIE Award for Vision and Leadership for her remarkable achievements and contributions to international education throughout her career.

Additional Resources

For further insights into the topics touched on in this episode, the following resources may be of interest:

→ 20 years of extraordinary: 2023 EAIE Award winners

→ Recognising the extraordinary in our sector