Experiences of International Education

This is the last episode of Experiences of International Education. The journey comes full circle as the podcast concludes where it all began—with a conversation with Brandon Lee. In this episode, I take a turn to share my personal journey through international education. I also reflect on key insights gained from engaging with over 50 experts and practitioners from around the globe. One of my big...

Borhene shares the story of his first involvement in international education through a teacher training program in Tunisia and how the driving force behind his career has been the commitment to ensuring no one is left behind in education. He explains how UNESCO is advancing the agenda of widening access to education, as outlined in SDG4 through a range of key initiatives. These include normative t...

Andreas Corcoran, Deputy Secretary General of the International Association of Universities (IAU), shares his global education journey, which brought him to study in various European countries and the United States and culminated with postgraduate studies at the European University Institute in Fiesole, Florence. His professional steps after graduating took him to Canterbury in the UK and Rome as...

Professor Andrew Atherton, Vice-President International and Engagement at the University of Southampton, tells how his involvement with international education started as an undergraduate student at SOAS where he studied Chinese and economics spending his second year in Beijing. His international experience continued studying his Masters’ at Yale University where he also started his academic caree...

Kyuseok Kim, Center Director at IES Abroad Seoul, tells us how his interest in international education began when as a teaching assistant at an international summer school program in South Korea, where he worked closely with a broad range of international faculty and students, and experience that contributed to his decision to work in the international education sector, including eventually at Sun...

Charles Cormack, founder and managing director of Cormack Consultancy Group, tells us how his interest in international education began in 1999 when he started a company to support British companies working in Central and Eastern Europe.  He soon discovered that there was a high demand for UK higher education, leading him to focus on TNE. Charles reflects on how TNE will become increasingly import...

Piet Van Hove, past president of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and current program manager of the Heroes European University Alliance at the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, tells how he was immersed in international education from a very young age, as he was born in the US whilst his father was completing his doctoral studies and moved back to the US for a...

Fanta Aw executive director and CEO of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, tells us how her first exposure to international education started at a young age when she moved from Mali to Liberia and eventually Washington where she attended international schools with students from various countries. This experience instilled in her a lifelong appreciation for diverse cultures and a sense o...

Angela Yung Chi Hou, Professor of Higher Education at National Chengchi University, former CEO of the Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan, and former Vice-President of the Asian Pacific Quality Network, tells us of how her international education journey started as an early academic scholar interested to understand the USA higher education sector and the motives behin...

Nadia Badrawi, President of the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, member of the CHEA International Quality Group Advisory Council, and founder and first CEO of the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education in Egypt, tells us of how her international education journey started with a grant from US AID for a study visit to the USA to learn about cur...

Maria Kelo, Director of Institutional Development at the European University Association, tells us how her international education journey started as an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics, which took her to Brussels for a traineeship at the European Commission in the Higher Education Policy Unit. This latter experience set the tone for her career which led her taking the role ...

Hayley Shields, partner at Edified and former Director of Student Experience at Education New Zealand shares how unable to take on the opportunity to study internationally herself she eventually joined the University of New South Wales in Australia to help with growing international student recruitment. Hayley tells of the work Edified is doing to help universities improve customer services when i...

Tamsin Thomas, Senior Strategic Engagement Manager at Duolingo, former Research Manager at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Higher Education Manager at British Council USA, tells us of her first introduction to international education as an undergraduate student in international relations, which brought her to Canada for a study abroad period, and subsequently motivated her work in...

Lotus Postrado, Country Director of British Council Philippines, tells us of her first engagement with international education when working with the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education (SEAMEO), Organization Regional Institute for Higher Education Development (RIHED), where she was involved in the multiregional AIMS (Asian Ministers of Education and Ministers of Higher Education) mobility progr...

Nishat Riaz, Global, head of higher education systems and internationalization and TNE lead at the British Council tells us how the seeds of her passion for international education started as a young child in a small, rural, remote valley in the Punjab mountains, where she began to connect with other cultures through books of different countries. This intercultural experience became a reality when...

Alison Barrett MBE, Country Director at British Council India, tells us how her connection with international education started as a young English teacher volunteer in Nepal, which opened up her eyes to what one can learn from international exposure. She tells us how her professional career took her in different countries in Asia, first as a language teacher, and then within the British Council co...

Leina Shi, Director of Education at British Council China, tells us how her international education journey started studying English at secondary school, which eventually motivated her to come to the UK for her undergraduate studies. Leina shares her experience of international education opening opportunities to students and her view of the importance of creating international platforms bringing t...

Tayyeb Shah, Vice President of the European Association for International Education, and former Deputy Vice Chancellor Global Partnership at the University of Western Australia, tells of his initial involvement in international education as the inaugural international director at Kings’ College University of London. Tayyeb shares his reflections on how academic power is moving east and the implica...

Bobby Mehta PVC Global Engagement, University of Portsmouth, tells us how his international education journey started on the clearing hotlines, an experience that eventually led him to support the international office in packing and sending boxes to British Council's fairs around the world. Bobby shares his views on how the work of international offices has changed over the years with the advancem...

Miguel Antonio Lim, Senior Lecturer in Education and International Development at the University of Manchester, takes us through his international education journey that started when he moved from the Philippines to France to pursue his further studies at Sciences Po. He eventually supported the university establishing academic partnerships in East and Southeast Asia attracting students to degrees...

Professor Mushtak Al-Atabi, Provost and CEO at Heriot-Watt University Malaysia  tells us how his international education journey started when he travelled from Iraq to Malaysia in 1997, where, whilst working as a mechanical engineer, joined Taylor's College as a teacher and a PhD student. As Taylor’s College started engaging in TNE partnerships with the UK, he was directly involved in teaching TNE...

Martijn van de Veen, Chief Business Development Officer at ICEF, shares with us how his interest in international education started with an internship in France where he was able to appreciate the value of learning other languages and cultures. Martijin tells us of his time as Director General of the International Student Identity Card, and the work that occupies him now at ICEF. He shares with us...

Guy Perring, Regional Director Asia at Etio (formerly i-graduate), tells us how his international education experience started as an exchange student of American Literature at the University of North Carolina, and eventually as English language teacher in Japan. This experience took him to the British Council, where he went to lead on education promotion in Malaysia in the very early days of TNE e...

Daniel Palm, Founder and Managing Director, at Catalina Global, and former Associate Vice President of International Affairs at the University of Arizona tells us how his journey in international education started as an undergraduate student when he went to China to study Mandarin, where he ended up staying for 5 year. This experience enabled him to support US universities seeking to develop acade...

Jason Lane,  Professor of International Education and special advisor to the President at the University of Illinois, Director of the Institute for Leadership and Governance in Higher Education, and co-founder of the Cross Border Education Research Team, tells us how he entered into the international education space through an initial interest in international affairs when he was back in high scho...