Manja Klemenčič

Manja Klemenčič

Associate Senior Lecturer on Sociology
Manja

Research Interests: Sociology and politics of higher education; international and comparative higher education; European higher education; student agency; student impact on higher education; student representation; academic profession; student-centered learning and teaching in higher education; European Union politics

Manja Klemenčič researches, teaches, advises, and acts as a consultant in sociology and politics of higher education, European higher education, and comparative higher education. Her major research contribution is in the study of student governments and student representation in higher education which is part of a broader research agenda on student agency and the effects of students on higher education. Her most recent published books include The Bloomsbury Handbook of Student Politics and Representation in Higher Education (open access) (2024), From Actors to Reforms in European Higher Education (2022),  The Routledge International Handbook of Student Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (2020), and The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education Systems and Institutions (2020). 

Her three staple courses offered at Harvard - SOCIOL1104 Sociology of Higher Education, SOCIOL1130 Student Leadership and Service in Higher Education (trailer) and GENED1039 Higher Education: Students, Institutions, and Controversies -  have repeatedly won Harvard’s awards for teaching excellence. Six times in a row, she was voted by the Harvard Yearbook Publications one of the most impactful professors by the graduating class (’19, ’20, ’21, ’22, ’23, ‘24).  In 2020, she received the John R. Marquand Award for Excellence in Advising and Support to Students, and in 2021, she was the recipient of the Phi Beta Kappa Alpha-Iota Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Harvard College, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Since 2014, Klemenčič serves as editor-in-chief of European Journal of Higher Education (Routledge Education, Taylor & Francis), since 2015, as co-editor of the academic book series Understanding Student Experiences in Higher Education (Bloomsbury) and since 2022, as co-editor of book series Higher Education Dynamics (Springer).

Manja regularly acts as evaluator and consultant for international organizations, including the European Commission, the World Bank and UNESCO, and national governments, research agencies and quality assurance agencies. She is co-author of the analytical report Mapping and analysis of student centered learning and teaching practices: usable knowledge to support a more inclusive high-quality higher education (Publications Office of the European Union, 2020). From 2022-2024, she is involved as a member of a core expert group in a study for the European Commission evaluating the transformative potential and impact of the European Universities Initiative. At Harvard, she is a co-chair of the Mahindra Center Seminar Series entitled: Universities: Past, Present, and Future, and member of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard.

Contact Information

608 William James Hall

Research Clusters