Lucia Brajkovic: A Rising Star

LUCIA BRAJKOVIC had earned a degree from the University of Zagreb and was working as a public relations officer there when she met Ed Simpson and learned about the long-standing cooperation between Croatia and IHE.

That led to her applying for and receiving a Fulbright Fellowship to come to UGA to further her education. As a doctoral student at IHE, she was named a Zell and Shirley Miller Fellow, an award given to students with outstanding scholarly potential, academic record and professional achievements. She also worked as a graduate research assistant at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Her dissertation research focused on higher education systems in post-transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

“Being a Ph.D. student at IHE was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” says Brajkovic. “I gained invaluable knowledge and training through the coursework and conversations with my peers, had the opportunity to work with the most prominent scholars in the field of higher education today, and formed life-long friendships.

This program prepared me for a career in international higher education research and policy analysis, and enabled me to obtain a position at the American Council on Education’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement

Brajkovic started work as a senior research associate at CIGE last fall, after an initial stint with ACE as a summer intern. Earlier this year, she was a contributor to an ACE-CIGE international brief titled Engaging with Europe: Enduring Ties, New Opportunities.