Office
Executive Leadership Team
Leonard Engel
Leonard Engel is Executive Director of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). He holds a Master of Public Administration from the Dutch School of Public Administration (NSOB), The Hague, and an MA in Literature from Leiden University, the Netherlands. Leonard is an experienced manager in higher education and a specialist in internationalisation and student affairs, having worked as a director at Leiden University from 1995 to 2010. His areas of specialisation are cooperation theory and relations between Dutch and Chinese higher education. Leonard is invited regularly to speak about international higher education, as well as Association management. Leonard received the 2023 President's Award from Piet Van Hove in recognition of his service and commitment to the EAIE and wider international education community. Since joining the EAIE 2010, he has guided the Association to new levels of professionalisation and led EAIE’s commitment to operational excellence.
Knowledge Development Team
Laura E. Rumbley
Author, editor and educator with a passion for telling the full and complex ‘story’ of international higher education.
Laura is Director for Knowledge Development and Research at the EAIE. Before joining the EAIE, she was Associate Director of the Boston College Center for International Higher Education. She completed her undergraduate studies at Georgetown University, her Master’s degree at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute and her Doctorate degree at Boston College, studying as well at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain. Laura began her career in international education as an administrator and international student adviser at Boston University, subsequently becoming involved in international and comparative higher education, including an appointment as deputy director of the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) in Brussels. Laura has co-authored and co-edited a number of publications, including the foundational document for the 2009 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution; the International Briefs for Higher Education Leaders series; and several books, chapters and articles focused on internationalisation and comparative perspectives on subjects affecting the academic profession and universities worldwide.
