Professor of sociology and president emeritus of the University of Oldenburg, Germany. Since 2003 he has served on an advisory mission to the Minister of Higher Education in Afghanistan. From 2000 to 2002, he served as the principal international officer for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo, and in 2002 became special counselor to the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) office in Belgrade. He first started working with UNMIK as head of the Department of Education and Science while he was an international administrator of the University of Prishtina. He served as a German delegate to the Council of Europe Committee on Higher Education and Research in 1994 and on the board of the European University Association from 1998 to 2001.
