Wolfgang Benedek is a founding member of WUS Austria and has served as its chairman since 1992. In this function, he chairs the board of WUS Austria, which gives the overall direction for the work of the organisation and assists the development of its activities. He has been instrumental for developing WUS programs in the Balkans to assist students and universities during the war-time of the 90s and after.

Wolfgang Benedek is professor of international law at the University of Graz, with a focus on human rights, human security and international economic law and also teaches at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy and the Master Programmes on Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice and Sarajevo. His support for the universities of Sarajevo and Prishtina in particular has been recognized by honorary doctorates and an honorary citizenship of Sarajevo.

Almir Kovacevic is Executive Director of WUS Austria. As such, he is responsible for the management of WUS Austria's head office in Graz and the regional offices in Prishtina and Sarajevo.

Almir Kovacevic is responsible for the following areas: organization management (people and program coordination) fundraising, PR, communication marketing, budgeting and finance issues, international coordination.

He is in charge of internal quality assurance and monitoring of the WUS Austria projects in South-Eastern Europe and has worked and lived in Kosovo as team leader in a large international project fostering the link between education and the labour market. He is particularly interested in technological transfer and in cooperation between universities and economic sector.

Almir Kovacevic earned a Master degree in Sport Sciences from the University of Graz.

Veronika Nitsche has been working for WUS Austria since 2001. The key qualifications of Veronika Nitsche are international project management, organizational development and fundraising and she has a profound knowledge of trends and developments in higher education. Consequently, her main tasks are the development and implementation of projects in the field of higher education in South-Eastern Europe. Additionally, through her long experience in the non-profit-sector, she contributes as a member of the Executive Board to the strategic objectives of the organisztion. Veronika Nitsche earned a degree in "International Project Management" and the MBA in General Management from the University of Graz.

Dino Mujkić joined WUS Austria in 1999. He was Regional Manager in BiH of WUS Austria responsible for the overall activities of the organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2012 he founded his own NGO SMOC - Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures and has since then started to work at the University of Sarajevo. Today he is active for WUS Austria as Associate Member of the Board.

For WUS Austria Dino coordinated numerous projects in cooperation with donors such as the Austrian Foreign and Science Ministries, Austrian Development Agency, European Union, Austrian Universities, various Rectors’ conferences, foundations, BiH government institutions, Embassies, partner organizations etc. Furthermore, he was responsible for monitoring of all WUS Austria activities in BiH and he coordinated office-working groups for strategy, fundraising, public relations and finances as well as implementation of identified measures.

Dino Mujkić holds a PhD in Sport Management.

Nina Beširević has started her work for WUS Austria in November 2005. In addition to her position as member of the Executive Board she now also belongs to our pool of experts. She has developed, managed and monitored a large number of Austrian and EU funded projects in the field of higher education. Her special fields of expertise include curriculum development in all three cycles, labour market relevant higher education, quality assurance and accreditation and internationalization, as well as project cycle management, fundraising and knowledge transfer.

Nina Beširević earned a Master's Degree in Philosophy/ Translation Studies from the University of Graz and a Diploma in Journalism from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She holds a certificate in Change Management from the University of Graz.

Bernadette Holzer is project coordinator at WUS Austria, responsible for strategic coordination, project development, and project management. She has over 10 years of international experience in capacity building, strategic programming, research, and project and training management at the nexus of human rights, peace, and development. 

Bernadette has previously worked with different international and non-governmental organisations as well as universities and cooperated with a wide range of national and international stakeholders, as well as the public sector. Her thematic expertise includes human rights and peacebuilding, support of peace processes, children's rights, and the implementation of human rights at the local level.

She holds Master’s degrees in Political Science and Communication Science from the University of Vienna and a European Master’s Degree (E.MA) in human rights and democratisation from the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice/Lido.

Maria Rottensteiner joined WUS Austria in May 2010. She is responsible for the implementation of selected EU Projects (mainly Erasmus+) and project development. Maria is experienced in the areas of internationalization of higher education, quality assurance and linking higher education with the labor market. One of her focal points is quality assurance and quality control both from an internal and external perspective.

Maria holds a Diploma Degree in English and a combination of studies from the University of Graz.

Marc Schwärzli joined the WUS Austria Team in April 2016 as financial manager. He is also responsible for the management of several projects in the areas of Higher Education Development, Arts, Culture and Sports.

He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Graz and brings in several years of work experience in national and international projects. He is accountant and a former lecturer in business informatics, operations research and accounting.

Louise Sperl joined WUS Austria as a project manager in January 2014. She is responsible for different EU projects and project development with particular emphasis on access to higher education for vulnerable and marginalised groups. Louise has more than twenty years of work experience as a project manager, researcher and technical expert in the areas of human rights, development and gender. Louise has previously worked with the United Nations (UNDP, UNOWA) and different non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and academia.

Louise holds an MA and doctorate degree in law from Vienna University. In her PhD thesis she has specialised on international human rights law (economic and social human rights, refugees).

Aqim Emurli joined WUS Austria in February 2017 as Team Leader for the project "HERAS – Higher Education, Research and Applied Science” which ended in March 2020. He is now also Team Leader for the follow-up project "HERAS Plus" which started in June 2020. Within the project, Mr. Emurli is responsible for the sound management and timely implementation of the Project, as well as the efficient use of project funds and management of the project team and experts. During this assignment, Mr. Emurli also fosters policy dialogue with relevant stakeholders and provides conceptual support to the ADC Office in Pristina in line of the country strategy of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).

Before joining WUS Austria, Mr. Emurli has managed and lead several international projects and programmes which have supported the public administration reforms, research and development, decentralisation, education development, good governance, as well has enhanced institution building of the countries from the Western Balkan (WB) region. To this end, Mr. Emurli has assisted the WB countries to comply their legal framework and approaches with the good governance standards in order to boost their EU integration processes. This was achieved by designing, implementing and monitoring different programmes for the public servants of the WB countries on afore-mentioned issues.

Mr. Emurli holds a MA degree on Comparative Public Administration to European Union from the South East European University of Macedonia.

Donjeta Ibra joined WUS Austria in February 2017 as a national project assistant for supporting the implementation of the project “HERAS – Higher Education, Research and Applied Science (Kosovo)” which ended in March 2020. She is now also national project assistant for the follow-up project "HERAS Plus" which started in June 2020 and which contributes to the well-functioning of higher education and research in Kosovo along European standards.

Before, Ms. Ibra has worked for over three years in CSOs sector, on projects that were supported by international donors such as Austrian Development Cooperation, British Embassy, Finnish Embassy, UN agencies, Save the Children, etc. In addition, Ms. Ibra has also worked for a year within the Assembly of the Republic of Kosova. Ms. Ibra holds a bachelor degree from Economic Faculty, department of Management and Informatics from the University of Prishtina. Currently, Ms. Ibra is working on MA thesis, in Economic Faculty, department of Marketing, University of Prishtina.

Nehat Dervishi serves as Thematic Coordinator for Higher Education for the ‘HERAS Plus’ Project. Within the project, Mr. Dervishi is in charge of activities related to building capacities of public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), fostering internationalization and mobility, key actions on applied science approaches, grant schemes, and development of policies, laws, and strategies in the field of Higher Education with a special focus on Applied Science.

Before joining WUS Austria, as a Team Member in ‘HERAS Plus’ Project in Kosovo, Mr. Dervishi served as a team member in a number of other projects implemented by international organizations and consultancy companies in Kosovo. His experience in other Projects, implemented by International Organizations (to which he was a member), relate to fields of Democratization and Good Governance, Human Rights and Higher Education (HE) including the specific themes on Quality Assurance and Accreditation, alignment with Bologna Process, and the HE Policy process.

Moreover, Mr. Dervishi has a substantial experience in the in private sector, where he, on behalf of a local consultancy firm, coordinated and managed many consultancy projects for different accounts including: DFID, The World Bank, various Kosovo governmental institutions (Central and Local level), independent agencies, private corporations, etc. In addition to his experience in Kosovo, Mr. Dervishi has a significant international exposure, both in terms of education and work experience. He has been living, working and studying in Albania, Greece, and Malaysia respectively.

Mr. Dervishi has a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Political Science from IIUM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For his academic achievement, he received the Best Student Award and the Rector’s Award for successively being on the Dean’s List. Apart from his Political Sciences studies, Mr. Dervishi has completed many advanced courses and trainings, some lasting for a few months, in other topics of his interest, in the fields of: Engineering, Statistics and Management.

Jeta Rexha is the Junior Project Assistant for the HERAS Plus Project and reports to the three-party consortium WUS Austria (lead partner), ZSI and OeAD. Within the project Ms. Rexha is responsible for supporting the swift implementation of the project activities. She supports the project administration in general, provides logistical support, organizes meetings of internal and external parties, maintains project documentation records and promotion material.

She has worked in different projects, mostly in the field of development and research, with international and local organizations, such as Save the Children and University of Prishtina/University of Leeds. She has been involved in overall project coordination, be it as a main coordinator or assisting in various projects through the entire cycle.

Ms. Rexha has a Bachelors and is pursuing a Master in Sociology at University of Prishtina. She has spent a semester at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in Development Studies in Social Justice Perspectives: Human Rights, Gender and Conflict Studies. She has completed a fellowship with the United Nations University and University of Iceland in Reykjavik in Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme.