Elke van der Valk
Fontys University of Applied Science, the Netherlands
An enthusiastic, internationally-oriented professional who believes in improving the world through cooperation projects
As Adviser Internationalisation at Fontys University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, Elke is responsible for scholarships concerning incoming and outgoing mobility, advises the 29 Fontys institutes on internationalisation and initiates new projects dealing with such issues as meeting new sustainable development goals (SDGs) and addressing the current refugee crisis. Elke helped to organise the June 2016 Spotlight Seminar on the Refugee Crisis, representing the organisation at a conference in Tanzania on the SDGs and contributing to the EAIE’s blog and Forum magazine. She is multilingual, and the reach of her work is intercontinental: she has coordinated grants and scholarships at Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and overseen European projects at Casa de la India, bringing European and Indian cultures closer together through educational, cultural and cooperation projects. She also travelled widely during and after her undergraduate studies, serving as an intern in Tanzania and France and earning her international Bachelor’s degree in international tourism, management and consultancy in Breda, the Netherlands. Elke was elected as Chair of the Expert Community Employability for the 2022–2024 term.