Pușa is a higher education scholar, an instructor and experienced manager of capacity strengthening programs and consultant with international experience in the field of higher education education.
Currently she:
- Teaches courses on higher education policy and management
- Is the Lead of the CEU Academy
- Conducts research in higher education and supervises doctoral and master students' research
- Takes part in training programs and consultancy projects on higher education management.
In addition to her higher education research and teaching, Pusa teaches the course The Politics of Scent: A Nosedive into the World of Fragrance in the Undergraduate department- the Culture, Politics and Society Track
https://courses.ceu.edu/courses/2023-2024/what-nose-knows-memory-luxury…
In 2022 she became a CLASP Global Fellow at the Institute of Writing and Thinking of Bard College (https://iwtclasp.bard.edu/fellows/) and in 2024 a Salzburg Global Fellow.
Between 2022 and 2025 she designed and led the Global Professional Development Program designed for university managers and administrators, a unique training program across countries and continents, under the Open Society University Network umbrella (building on her previous involvement in other international professional development programs for university staff).
Current projects:
CEU - High School Partnership Program (see: https://www.ceu.edu/news/2025-10/floridsdorf-high-school-students-visit…)
CEU- Summer University Network program
Institutional capacity strengthening of Quality Assurance in Higher Education
Current courses:
Quality Matters in University Education (Summer 2026, 2025)
https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/courses/2026/quality-matters-universit…
Effective Leadership and Organisational Management in Higher Education (Spring 2025)
https://elkana.ceu.edu/effective-leadership-and-organizational-manageme…
Higher Education Policy Design and Implementation (Department of Public Policy course, Fall semester)
https://courses.ceu.edu/courses/2023-2024/higher-education-policy-desig…
She was also a faculty member of the OSUN Certificate in Global Education and Development (GLOBALED) (OSUN course)
https://opensocietyuniversitynetwork.org/education/teaching/globaled/
Conference presentation:
"Between policy design and policy implementation: a comparative look at quality assurance of micro-credentials in South Africa and in Central Europe" delivered jointly by Nastase Pusa (CEU) and Derrick Zitha (Wits University, South Africa) at the INQAAHE Forum 2026
Previous courses:
Leadership in Higher Education (Spring 2025)
Global Education Policy Implementation – Strategies for Access and Equity in Low-Resource Contexts (SUN course, June 2024)
https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/courses/2024/global-education-policy-i…
Fall and Winter 2022 and 2023: Global Education Policy Implementation course (online OSUN course, led by Tamo Chattopadhay with contributing faculty from OSUN institutions)
Summer 2022 and 2023: Learning from Policy Implementation– Strategies for Education Access and Equity in Low-Resource Contexts - A Course in Global Educational Development (GLOBALED) (June 14 – July 1, 2022 and June 26-30, 2023)
Summer 2022:The Quality of University Education: Harmonizing Purposes, Processes and Outcomes
https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/courses/quality-university-education-h…
Spring 2022: Quality Assurance for University Administrators (May 18-June 9, 2022)
https://opensocietyuniversitynetwork.org/opportunities/ex-ed-hub-profes…
Spring 2021: Strategic Management of Universities
Summer 2020: The Quality of University Education: Harmonizing Purposes, Processes and Outcomes
Summer 2019: Internationalization of the University at Home: Challenges and Opportunities
Summer 2019: Learning Can Be Fun: Examining the World of Education with Critical Eyes
Summer 2018: Policies and Practices in Lifelong Learning at Universities
Summer 2017: Placing Students in the Center: Student Centered Learning in European Universities
Consultancies:
-Course Lead for the multi-year professional training program commissioned by the Georgian Center for International Education
-External reviewer and researcher in the project Extending and reinforcing good practice in teacher development conducted by a consortium of universities from Sweden, Estonia, Ireland, Slovakia and Check Republic.
Other activities:
-Member of the Scientific Committee for the 52nd Annual Conference of the European university continuing education network (eucen)- May 2022
-Independent expert for the Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education and Research for Development (APPEAR) and the Shota Rustaveli Science Foundation, Georgia
-Track Chair for the annual Forum of the European Higher Education Society –EAIR, September 2018
Publications:
Dang, Q. A., Highman, L., Lim, M. A., & Năstase, P. (2025). Rethinking internationalisation:‘Tenable, sustainable, durable, and healthy’higher education beyond the pandemic: Insights from England and Hungary. Learning and Teaching, 18(3), 36-65. https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2025.180303
Veiga, A. and Seidenschnur, T. (2023) (Eds.) The Role of European Universities in an Age of Pandemic, Aarhus School of Education, available at:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/102025/CHEF_Working_paper_…
Nastase, P. (2020). Drivers for Internationalization in Georgian Higher Education. In European Higher Education Area: Challenges for a New Decade (pp. 91-104). Springer, Cham.
Nastase, P. (2020). Book review: The contentious politics of higher education: struggles and power relations within English and Italian universities (The mobilization series on social movements, protest, and culture) by Lorenzo Cini, London, Routledge, 2018, 196 pp., 138 EUR (hardcover), 32 EUR (Kindle Edition), ISBN 9781138577114.
Nastase, P. (2018): Hidden in plain sight: student fund-raising and organization in Romanian universities, International Review of Social Research, Special Issue: "Long term perspectives on higher education: student movements, human capital and expert culture", vol. 7, issue no. 3, May 2018, De Gruyter
Nastase, P. (2018): Institutional Perspective on Lifelong Learning: Evidence from Romania and Hungary, in “Neveléstudomány” 2018 fall issue (2018/3.)
Nastase, P., Szabo, M. (2017): Good Practices in Student Centered Learning in Central and Eastern Europe in CEHEC Conference proceedings, April 2017