APQN Database of Consultants
Rainer
Nominated By: Dr Anke Rigbers
Nominee Application Form: Part A
Title: Professor
Family Names(s): Kuenzel
Mailing Address: Gartenstr. 11
D-49205 Hasbergen
D-49205 Hasbergen
Country: Germany
Office Telephone: +495419692751
Office Fax: +495405807871
Residence Telephone: +4954051573
Email: kuenzel.rainer@googlemail.com
Nationality/Citizenship: German
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 01-04-1942
Current Position: Retired Professor/University PresidentAcademic Director of Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, Honover (ZEvA)
Current Employer: Self-employed
Please indicate your fluency levels in various languages (Comma Separated)
Fluent in Reading: ENGLISH, GERMAN, FRENCH
Fluent in Writing: ENGLISH, GERMAN
Fluent in Speaking: ENGLISH, GERMAN
Academic Qualifications and Training
1. Degree, Institution, Year Completed: Dr. rer. pol., Freie Universität Berlin, 1974
2. Degree, Institution, Year Completed: Diplom-Volkwirt (Master in Economics), Freie Universität Berlin, 1967
3. Degree, Institution, Year Completed: Professor of Economic Theory, Osnabrueck University, 1976
4. Degree, Institution, Year Completed: Professor of Higher Education Management and Policy, Osnabrueck University, 2004
Nominee Application Form: Part B
Areas:
- Institutional quality assurance reviews / audits
- Program reviews / accreditations
- General QA consultancy
Specialisations:
- Setting up of new QA agency
- Training of experts/external reviewers
- Internal QA of institutions
- Self study guidance to institutions
- External review of institutions
- Quality Indicators and benchmarks
- External Review of QAAs
- QA of Open learning institutes
- Institutional assessment
- Institutional quality audits
- Institutional accreditation
- QA of cross border offerings
- Student feedback and surveys
- Research assessment
- Online program accreditation
Other (please specify): Assessment of internationalization strategies
Examples of Experience: National & International Consultations / Audit / Review
1. Brief Description: On behalf of the Austrian Accreditation Council assessment of the WWE Wels AG for accreditation as private provider of online university degree programs
Institution/City/Country: Worldwide Education Wels AG, Wels, Austria
Date: 2007/8
Type of Experience:
- Institutional Audit / Assessment
- Programme Review / Accreditation
2. Brief Description: Quality Audit of the internal QA system of the University of Basel on behalf of OAQ, Switzerland (chairman of audit team)
Institution/City/Country: University of Basel, Switzerland
Date: 2008
Type of Experience:
- Institutional Audit / Assessment
3. Brief Description: External Review of ITE, Singapore, in the Quality Assurance Framework of MoE, Singapore, and Mid-Cycle Review 3 years later
Institution/City/Country: Institute of Technical Education, Singapore
Date: 2009
Type of Experience:
- Consultancy
- Institutional Audit / Assessment
4. Brief Description: Institutional Audit of the Hong Kong Institute of Education on behalf of the Quality Assurance Council of Hong Kong
Institution/City/Country: Hong Kong Institute of Education
Date: 2011
Type of Experience:
- Consultancy
- Institutional Audit / Assessment
- Programme Review / Accreditation
Nominee Application Form: Part C
Please write a professional profile of 500 words.
Professional Summary Description: Dr Rainer Kuenzel was born in Berlin, Germany, on April 1, 1942. He is married and has two daughters.
He graduated as Diplom-Volkswirt (equivalent to a master’s degree in economics) at the Freie Universitaet Berlin (FUB) in 1967. From 1968 through 1974 he worked as research and teaching assistant at the Institute of Applied Economics and Econometrics of the FUB; he received his doctorate in economics in1974.
Following a short interim period as lecturer of economics in Berlin and as researcher in Goettingen he became Professor of Economic Theory at Osnabrueck University (UOS) in 1976. His research interests ranged from theoretical models of multi-sector production, pricing, and growth to the determination of long-term fluctuations of economic growth by the interaction of social, political, and economic factors.
Dr Kuenzel served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences for two consecutive terms; he was elected Vice President of the UOS in 1987.
Upon nomination by the Academic Senate he was appointed President of the UOS by the Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Lower Saxony in 1990. He was re-elected twice and retired from office in September 2004.
During his presidency of the UOS Dr Kuenzel was elected twice as chairman of the Association of University Presidents of the State of Lower Saxony (1993-1998). On the federal level he served as Senate member of the Association of Rectors and Presidents of Higher Education Institutions in Germany (HRK) throughout his entire office period as university president (1990-2004); he was elected and re-elected Vice President of the Association for the periods 1994/97 and 1997/2000.
Partly in his capacity as representative of the state and federal associations of university presidents, partly on account of his publications and contributions to conferences, Dr Kuenzel was entrusted with numerous tasks and functions in federal and state commissions on reform issues in German higher education. He was especially interested in the assessment and institutional management of quality in higher education and research and became involved in the first European project on quality assessment in higher education in 1994/95 as Germany’s representative in the steering group.
In 1995 he served as co-founder of the first quality assurance agency in the German higher education system, the Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, Hanover (ZEvA). From 04/2001 until 04/2014 he headed ZEvA as its Academic Director. Upon his initiative the Scientific Commission of the State of Lower Saxony (WKN) was created in 1997 for the purpose of periodically assessing the organization and quality of the research carried out in the state universities and in the publicly funded research institutes of the state. He served as a consultative member of the commission ever since.
From 03/2005 until 03/2010 Dr Kuenzel represented the then six independent accreditation agencies of Germany on the board of the German Accreditation Council (AR). He has also represented ab initio the German system of quality assurance in higher education in the respective organizations on European level.
After retirement from the office of university president in 2004 Dr Kuenzel was offered to take a chair in the department of economics at Osnabrueck University. With special permission by the state authorities he continued to work beyond retiring age as senior professor of economics in the area of higher education management and policy until April 2014.
In addition to these activities Dr Kuenzel has been and is still serving as an advisor to several governments in Germany and abroad and has taken part in quality audits of many European and non-European universities. For the last fifteen years his publications have covered a broad range of issues in higher education management, policy, and quality assurance.
He graduated as Diplom-Volkswirt (equivalent to a master’s degree in economics) at the Freie Universitaet Berlin (FUB) in 1967. From 1968 through 1974 he worked as research and teaching assistant at the Institute of Applied Economics and Econometrics of the FUB; he received his doctorate in economics in1974.
Following a short interim period as lecturer of economics in Berlin and as researcher in Goettingen he became Professor of Economic Theory at Osnabrueck University (UOS) in 1976. His research interests ranged from theoretical models of multi-sector production, pricing, and growth to the determination of long-term fluctuations of economic growth by the interaction of social, political, and economic factors.
Dr Kuenzel served as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences for two consecutive terms; he was elected Vice President of the UOS in 1987.
Upon nomination by the Academic Senate he was appointed President of the UOS by the Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Lower Saxony in 1990. He was re-elected twice and retired from office in September 2004.
During his presidency of the UOS Dr Kuenzel was elected twice as chairman of the Association of University Presidents of the State of Lower Saxony (1993-1998). On the federal level he served as Senate member of the Association of Rectors and Presidents of Higher Education Institutions in Germany (HRK) throughout his entire office period as university president (1990-2004); he was elected and re-elected Vice President of the Association for the periods 1994/97 and 1997/2000.
Partly in his capacity as representative of the state and federal associations of university presidents, partly on account of his publications and contributions to conferences, Dr Kuenzel was entrusted with numerous tasks and functions in federal and state commissions on reform issues in German higher education. He was especially interested in the assessment and institutional management of quality in higher education and research and became involved in the first European project on quality assessment in higher education in 1994/95 as Germany’s representative in the steering group.
In 1995 he served as co-founder of the first quality assurance agency in the German higher education system, the Central Evaluation and Accreditation Agency, Hanover (ZEvA). From 04/2001 until 04/2014 he headed ZEvA as its Academic Director. Upon his initiative the Scientific Commission of the State of Lower Saxony (WKN) was created in 1997 for the purpose of periodically assessing the organization and quality of the research carried out in the state universities and in the publicly funded research institutes of the state. He served as a consultative member of the commission ever since.
From 03/2005 until 03/2010 Dr Kuenzel represented the then six independent accreditation agencies of Germany on the board of the German Accreditation Council (AR). He has also represented ab initio the German system of quality assurance in higher education in the respective organizations on European level.
After retirement from the office of university president in 2004 Dr Kuenzel was offered to take a chair in the department of economics at Osnabrueck University. With special permission by the state authorities he continued to work beyond retiring age as senior professor of economics in the area of higher education management and policy until April 2014.
In addition to these activities Dr Kuenzel has been and is still serving as an advisor to several governments in Germany and abroad and has taken part in quality audits of many European and non-European universities. For the last fifteen years his publications have covered a broad range of issues in higher education management, policy, and quality assurance.
Documents Submitted
Located in: APQN Database of Consultants
