Programme manager

General Information

Vacancy number

1088/2025

Recruitment type

Secondment

Posted date

19-Nov-2025

Deadline to apply

05-Jan-2026

Duty station

Strasbourg

Entity

Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity (DGII)

Description & Requirements
Your Team

The team of 9 persons within which you will work, the Higher and Further Education Unit in the Education Department, within the Directorate General II – Democracy and Human Dignity, is entrusted with implementing the Higher Education Programme for the 46 member States of the Council of Europe.

The Higher Education projects are implemented in the following areas: academic freedom, ethics, transparency and integrity in education, student rights, artificial intelligence, and the recognition of qualifications, including the implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

The Higher Education Programme contributes to the implementation of the Council of Europe's Education Strategy 2024–2030: "Learners First: Education for Today's and Tomorrow's Democratic Societies", which was adopted at the 26th session of the Council of Europe Standing Conference of Ministers of Education in September 2023.

Your Role

Education
As a Programme Manager, with a professional background in higher education, under the responsibility of the Head of Higher and Further Education Unit, you will:

• Substantially contribute to the implementation of the Council of Europe Higher Education Programme and the preparation of the new programme;
• provide content expertise for higher education activities and publications, as well as for presentations;
• provide content support for cooperation actions, financed with extra-budgetary funds and implemented within the Higher Education Programme;
• support activities carried out in the field of recognition qualifications, in particular by supporting the implementation of the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees initiative;
• support activities carried out in the framework of the Centre for Preventing and Countering Education Fraud.

Requirements to apply

You Must

• have the support of the member State seconding you to the Council of Europe;
• hold a higher education degree or qualification equivalent to a master's degree (2nd cycle of the Bologna process framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area) in in Education, International Relations, Social sciences, Public Policy or a relaed field;
• have at least 8 years of professional experience acquired in the field of public sector institutions working in relevant fields or a higher education institution;
• have very good knowledge of one of the two official languages of the Council of Europe (English or French) and a good knowledge of the other (French or English);
• be a citizen of one of the member States of the Council of Europe.

Key competencies

• Operational - Planning and work organisation
• Operational - Analysis and problem solving
• Operational - Drafting skills
• Operational - Results orientation
• Interpersonal - Teamwork and co-operation
• Professional and technical expertise:
• Good knowledge of European higher education policies, and standards, in particular those of the Council of Europe and its instruments in this field;
• experience in implementing of projects and policy or cooperation activities, including project management;
• experience of working with governmental institutions, international; organisations, civil society on projects related to higher education;
• knowledge and understanding of project management tools.

Desirable competencies

• Interpersonal - Negotiating
• Interpersonal - Communication
• Interpersonal - Resilience
• Professional and technical expertise:
• Previous professional experience obtained within a national/ international educational authoriy or other relevant organisations;
• Expertience of working in an international environment;
• Knowledge of other languages.

What we offer

This vacancy is for a secondment, ruled by Article 23 of Committee of Ministers' Resolution CM/Res You can consult the conditions of secondment to the Council of Europe (days of leave, allowances etc.) on the webpage What we offer. This secondment does not foresee any allowances or travel expenses from the Organisation.

This secondment should start as soon as possible.

Applications and selection procedure

For more information on how we recruit, you can consult the page Our recruitment process of our Career's website. The deadline for applications is indicated in the General information section of this vacancy notice (see above) and is fixed at
23:59:59 (CET/CEST)
. Only applicants who meet the conditions of the Committee of Ministers' Resolution CM/Res and who best meet the abovementioned criteria will be considered for selection and for the next stage.

Important information

As an
equal opportunity employer
, the Council of Europe welcomes applications from all suitably qualified people, irrespective of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ethnic or social origin, disability, religion or belief. Under its equal opportunity policy, the Council of Europe is aiming to achieve gender parity in staff employed in each category and grade. At the time of appointment, preference between suitable people shall be given to the person of the gender which is under-represented in the relevant grades within the category to which the vacancy belongs.

Applicants with specific needs
are encouraged to request reasonable accommodations at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact us at , we will ensure that your request is handled.

The information published on the CoE's careers website regarding working conditions is correct at the time of publication of the vacancy notice. Any changes to these conditions during the recruitment process will be updated on our Portal and will apply at the time of the job offer. Our career's website is not intended to be exhaustive and may not address all questions you would have. Should you have remaining questions, please contact us