How to manage an international office 

Wessel Meijer

Wessel Meijer is currently Head of the International Office at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He is an all-around international relations manager with 35 years of experience in the internationalisation of higher education, both as a manager and as a specialist. He started his career at the Utrecht School of Arts in the early days of student mobility, and had managerial and senior advisor positions at Utrecht University, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Radboud University in Nijmegen and Leiden University, all in the Netherlands.

Over the years he was responsible for diverse task and themes, like institutional strategy development, joint programmes, scholarships, international mobility, international admissions, international marketing, international partnerships, university networks, European Alliances and European project management. Wessel is involved in several other international activities as a trainer, speaker, assessor of European projects and auditor of international courses.

Sabine Pendl

Sabine serves as the Director of the Office of International Relations at the University of Graz, where she oversees internationalisation initiatives, project management, and strategic collaborations. With over 30 years in the field of international higher education, Sabine has built a distinguished career in advancing global engagement and fostering cross-border partnerships. 

Sabine is a past President of the EAIE (2018–2020), during which she guided the organisation through key initiatives to enhance international education. She has extensive experience managing international projects and summer schools, training professionals in joint degree development, and authoring articles on benchmarking, teaching in English, and international office management. 

Sabine currently serves her third term as President of the Utrecht Network and works as an auditor for internationalisation projects with the German Rectors’ Conference. Her career reflects a lifelong dedication to promoting innovation and collaboration in international education.