Introduction to research on internationalisation

Daniela Craciun

University of Twente, the Netherlands

Daniela Craciun is an Assistant Professor at the University of Twente’s Center for Higher Education Policy Studies, where she researches higher education policy. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Central European University and specialises in public policy, with a particular focus on higher education, research design, content analysis, and conceptualisation.

Her doctoral research examined national higher education internationalisation strategies worldwide, using computer-assisted text analysis to bridge empirical data and conceptual insights. Before joining the University of Twente, Daniela taught at Bard College Berlin and worked as a tutor and academic advisor with the OLIve Refugee Education Initiatives in Germany.

Daniela has also held visiting scholar appointments at the University of Yangon (Myanmar), the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil), and the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College (United States), contributing to research and teaching in higher education across diverse international contexts.

Laura E. Rumbley

Director for Knowledge Development & Research, EAIE

Laura is Director for Knowledge Development and Research at the EAIE. Before joining the EAIE, she served as 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 doctoral degree at Boston College; she also studied 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.

Simone Hackett

EAIE Committee Chair, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands

Simone is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS), specialising in Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Virtual Exchange and the internationalisation of higher education. She has extensive experience designing, implementing and researching internationalisation practices, with a focus on embedding intercultural and inclusive learning in curricula. 

In 2011, she launched the first COIL initiatives at Hogeschool Utrecht and, in 2016, led the first European COIL conference at THUAS. She delivers professional training worldwide on COIL, internationalisation research and related educational strategies. As an expert evaluator for the European Commission and consultant for Erasmus+ National Agencies, she assesses international education grant proposals and universities’ internationalisation strategies. Her research team was among the first to measure COIL’s impact on intercultural competence using control groups, providing insights highly relevant to policy and practice. Published in high-impact journals and widely cited, her work has shaped the field and advanced evidence-based approaches to global learning.

X:

@Simone_Hackett

LinkedIn:

https://linkedin.com/in/simone-hackett-9a79638/

Miguel Antonio Lim

Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Miguel Antonio Lim is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Impact Coordinator at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. He is co-convenor of the Higher Education Research Network at Manchester. He critically researches issues in the internationalisation of higher education, East and Southeast Asian and transnational higher education, international students, university rankings and performance metrics. 

Previously, he was an EU-Marie Curie Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark, and task force leader on migration and higher education at the EU-Marie Curie Alumni Association. He has worked and taught at Sciences Po Paris, the London School of Economics (LSE), the University College London (UCL) and in his home country, the Philippines.

Fiona Hunter

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy

Fiona Hunter is Associate Director at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy, and an international higher education consultant, researcher and trainer. She is Co-Editor at the Journal of Studies for International Education (JSIE); an International Advisory Board member at the Universidad de Granada in Spain; a Scientific Council member at AVEPRO, the Holy See’s quality assurance agency; and a Visiting Tutor for the DBA programme in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath in the UK.  

Ece Arat

Researcher , Nuffic

Ece Arat is a researcher at Nuffic. Her work primarily focuses on stay rates, international graduates and researchers in the Netherlands, and incoming mobility.