Board
Sara López Selga
Sara is President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) and Director of International Relations at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona, Spain. She is responsible for influencing and implementing internationalisation strategy, promoting agreements and projects for mobility and academic cooperation worldwide, supervising international student services and programme development. Previously, she gained professional experience at the Teaching and Learning Institute of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – UPC) and in Brussels, Belgium, thereby becoming involved in coordinating an EU capacity-building project with Latin America. In 2014, Sara conducted research in international education as a Schuman-Fulbright Scholar in the USA. She received the EAIE Bo Gregersen Award for Best Practice as part of the Network of Catalan Universities. She holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences and Sociology and a Master’s in Public and Social Policies from UPF. She also received executive training at the Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), USA.
Sara's term as President of the EAIE is from September 2024 to 2026.
Tayyeb Shah
Tayyeb Shah is an experienced international higher education and business development executive with a deep knowledge of global markets. He is the Senior Vice President for International Higher Education at Espalier Ventures. He serves as an advisor at several organisations including Wells Advisory and INTO University Partnerships and sits on several boards including the European Association for International Education and Nurture Higher Education. He also advises and mentors several university senior international officers and is a regular speaker at conferences worldwide.
Tayyeb was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Partnerships) at the University of Western Australia, responsible for a portfolio that spanned Global Engagement, Innovation & Industry Engagement, Arts & Culture, and Development & Alumni Relations. Before that, he served as Deputy Vice President (Global Business Development) at King’s College London, where he was responsible for identifying and developing major strategic projects that expanded the university’s international and commercial partnerships, particularly in China and the Middle East.
Educated at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London), and Imperial College London, Tayyeb spent more than a decade in the commercial sector and creative industries before moving to higher education in 2007 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
Tayyeb has been involved with the EAIE in different roles and since 2022, he has been a member of the EAIE Board and is currently the EAIE's Vice-president.
Edyta Lachowicz-Santos
Edyta is the Director of Internationalisation Strategy at the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland. She has been engaged in diverse activities related to the internationalisation of higher education institutions within various positions for the past 20 years. She has coordinated and participated in many international projects involving higher education institutions and employers. She has also co-founded and is a board member of the Silesian Universities Network (SUN).
Since 2018, Edyta has cooperated with the National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) as an expert and consultant. She has been involved with the EAIE since 2002, received the EAIE Rising Star Award in 2015, and is currently a member of the EAIE Board.
Joanne Pagèze
Joanne Pagèze is Vice-President for Internationalisation at the University of Bordeaux, and university lecturer at the Department of Languages and Cultures. She has worked in university language education for over 25 years and has a research interest in the internationalisation of the curriculum and education for global engagement. She has wide experience in teacher development having set up an award-winning programme at the University of Bordeaux (national PEPS prize 2017) and participated in EQUiiP (an E+ Strategic Partnership). Her current position covers all aspects of internationalisation but she still enjoys working alongside lecturers in the classroom. Assistant-editor of the European Journal of Language Policy, she is a board member of RANACLES affiliated to CERCLES. She holds a research Master's degree from Ecole Normale Supérieur de Cachan/ University Bordeaux Segalen and another Master’s degree from St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge.
Joanne has been involved with the EAIE in different roles and since 2024, she has been a member of the EAIE Board.
Stephen Orme
Stephen Orme is Senior Vice-President at Studyportals after previously being employed by Navitas, Study Group, Nuffic and Leiden University. He has a wide range of experience in the field, covering admissions, international recruitment, pathway education and management. Stephen was born in Northern Ireland but was educated in the Netherlands. He holds a Master of Arts degree in English Language and Literature.
Stephen has been involved with the EAIE in different roles. He won the EAIE Rising Star award in 2009 and was a member of the EAIE General Council for two terms, from 2020-2024. Since 2024, he has been a member of the EAIE Board.