Meet the speakers
Juan Rayon Gonzalez
Juan is the strategic manager of the INGENIUM European Universities alliance, led by the University of Oviedo in northern Spain. Before joining the alliance, he worked on the policy team of the European Commission’s higher education unit, with a focus on the joint European degree and quality assurance. Juan was also President of Erasmus Student Network International and ESN Spain from 2021-2023, during which he was responsible for the organisation’s overall policy and advocacy coordination. Juan led ESN’s involvement in the European Universities initiative and collaborated with several alliances as an associate partner. He has a law degree and is specialised in European law and higher education policy.
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.