Marianne Brekelmans – Selders
I had been working in the industry for six years before starting my professional life in higher education in Breda, the Netherlands, as a teacher of German and later English. From 1990 onwards I was in charge of internationalisation for the technical faculties in Breda and later in Tilburg. The last four years, until 2009, I was working in the international office of Avans Hogeschool, which collaborates with the office in s’Hertogenbosch. I still enjoy working with young adults and advising them in my spare time, as well as volunteering with EMPLOI.

My great passion is people and I believe in universal love. We as individuals can make the difference by giving young and older people chances. In order to contribute to this, I have been a member of various societies (from ZONTA International – a service club to enhance the status of women, to EUSC – European Senior Citizens).

I can imagine that young international liaison officers dealing with (industrial) placements are intimidated by the many challenges of internationalisation. The strength of EMPLOI is that it focuses on careers and employability, geared towards making the European Union stand out as a competitive global market.