The VAP Advisors

It was recommended to strive for a team composition with one former head; one acting head; one person from the vice-presidency, senior administration or departments; one leader from a (inter)national organization in higher education; and one Seminar staff member. As far as the professional background of the experts is concerned, former heads of institutions were the largest group (30%), followed by active heads of institutions (20%) and active vice-presidents/rectors/provosts (11%).

151 people have participated in the VAP as external advisors since 1998. 54 people have participated in more than one visit, 97 people have participated in one visit only. The percentage of women has slightly decreased from 25% in 1998-2004 to 23% under the Carnegie Corporation grants. Seven CEE trips and two Russian trips out of the 85 visits took place without an accompanying staff member, this was in particular the case at the start of the program. The average team size of the teams was four (including one staff member).

In the 70 VAP visits in 1998-2004, 34% of the team members came for the USA, 23% from the EU, 12% from CEE, 4,5 % from Canada, 1,5% from other parts of the world, 2% from the Russian Federation, and 23% was Seminar staff. For the seventeen VAP visits under the Carnegie Corporation grants the distribution was 14 team members from the USA, 21 from the EU, 6 from CEE/FSU, 4 from Canada, 6 from other parts of the world and 17 Seminar staff. Only one team member came from Russia. There appears to have been a shift from USA dominance to EU dominance among the team members.