WES-CIHE Summer Institute

A globally renowned scholar, Hans de Wit has made his name studying the internationalization of higher education. From 2015-2020, Hans served as Director of the Center for International Higher Education. He has also served as Director of the Center for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (Italy) and as Vice-President for International Affairs and Senior Advisor International at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and has taught at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Hans is a Senior Fellow at the International Association of Universities (based at UNESCO), a founding member and past president of the European Association for International Education and founding editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education. In 2021 he received the Prof. A. Noam Chomsky North Star Life Time Achievement Global Connections Award of StarScholars (Society of Transnational Academic Scholars) and has also received awards for his contribution to the field from EAIE, NAFSA, CIEE, the University of Amsterdam, AMEPI and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.

Elizabeth Buckner is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto (Canada). Her research examines how global trends affect higher education. Her current projects focus on three strands: private higher education, internationalization, and sustainable development. She is currently the PI of The Future of Internationalization Partnership project, a multi-year collaborative project examining internationalization in the wake of COVID-19 with partners at Boston College and the International Association of Universities. She also holds major grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) examining private higher education and sustainable development, and is a co-investigator on a project examining universities in crisis with colleagues at Cambridge University (UK).

Professor Elspeth Jones is Emerita Professor of the Internationalisation of Higher Education, Leeds Beckett University (UK), and founding editor of the Internationalization in Higher Education book series, published by Routledge.  She was awarded the inaugural North Star Medal of Lifetime Achievement in Transnational Research (Noam Chomsky Global Connections Awards) and is past recipient of the EAIE Award for Excellence in Research. She hosts a YouTube channel featuring conversations with international educators. She has published widely and has worked with a range of organizations including UNESCO, European Commission, European Parliament, International Association of Universities, the International Education Association of Australia, and a range of universities, ministries and other organizations across six continents. Elspeth’s particular interests revolve around the student experience, from strategic leadership to personal, professional and employability outcomes from international mobility, internationalization of the curriculum at home and abroad, global citizenship and intercultural competence development, as well as the role of languages in internationalization. 

Betty Leask is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Education at La Trobe University (Australia) and Chief Editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education. She also holds honorary positions at the Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) at Boston College in the US, the Centre for Higher Education Internationalization (CHEI) at Università Cattolica del Sacre Cuore in Italy, and the Centre for Internationalization of Education Brazil-Australia at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Betty has published books, reports and peer reviewed journal articles on a broad range of International Higher Education topics. Her leadership and achievements have been recognized by the EAIE, the IEAA and most recently in 2022 by the STAR Scholars Network with their premier award, the Noam Chomsky North Star Medal of Lifetime Achievement.  

Fiona Hunter is Associate Director at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan (Italy) and a higher education management consultant working with private, public and faith-based institutions around the world on a broad range of higher education management issues. She is also member of the International Advisory Board at the Universidad de Granada in Spain and of the Scientific Council of AVEPRO (Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Quality in Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties), as well as co-editor of the Journal of Studies for International Education (JSIE).  She is Past President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE), and served for 6 years as member and chair of the Board of Directors for Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), a non-profit education organization in the United States. 

Miguel Antonio Lim is Senior Lecturer in Education at the Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester (UK). He is co-convenor of the Higher Education Research Network at the University of Manchester and the International Research and Researchers Network of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). His research interests include internationalization of higher education, East and Southeast Asian and transnational higher education, international student mobility and critical perspectives on university rankings and performance metrics. Miguel has worked with the EU-Marie Curie Association, Sciences Po-Paris, and the London School of Economics (LSE). He is currently working with researchers and policymakers in ASEAN and at the Asia Europe Foundation on issues of HE region-building and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Shanton Chang is Professor of Information Behavior and Information Systems at the School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne (Australia). He is also Associate Dean (International) at the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology. He has extensive experience in international education, having been involved in recruitment, teaching and learning across cultures, career mentoring, international education strategy and policy. Shanton works closely with industry partners to understand the skills that employers expect from graduates. He is also a well published author on the information behaviors of international students. His work includes a co-edited book “Digital Experiences of International Students: Challenging Assumptions and Rethinking Engagement”, and a special issue of the Journal of Studies in International Education on ‘Digitalisation of International Education: Opportunities and Disruptions’. He has also been invited to speak at numerous conferences and institutions on topics related to the information behaviors of international students. He was the Australian Computer Society’s ICT Educator of the Year in 2017, and received the International Education Association of Australia’s Distinguished Contribution to International Education Award in 2021. 

Giorgio Marinoni has been Manager of Higher Education and Internationalization at the International Association of Universities (IAU) since February 2015. Among his responsibilities at IAU are research projects, advisory services and external representation of the Association for any matters concerning internationalization. Giorgio is the coordination of the ISAS (2.0) programof advisory services for advancing internationalization and the coordinator of the Network of International Education Associations (NIEA), a global network of non-profit, non-government associations whose main stated purpose is to advance international higher education. He has published the report of the 5th Global Survey on Internationalization of Higher Education and of the 1st and 2nd Global Surveys on the impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education and is the coordinator of the 6th Global Survey on Internationalization of Higher Education. Before his current position at IAU, Giorgio Marinoni worked for UNICA, the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe, in the field of internationalization and higher education policy and reform at the European level and beyond. He has been an active member of the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) at local, national and international level, and served the ESN as its President in 2007 – 2008.

Philip G. Altbach founded the Center for International Higher Education in 1994 and directed it from the time of its founding until his retirement in 2013. Phil has received numerous awards during his distinguished career, include NAFSA’s Houlihan award for distinguished contributions to international education and the ASHE Bowen distinguished career award. He was Distinguished Scholar Leader for the New Century Scholars initiative of the Fulbright program (2004-2006), a senior associate of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and an Erudite Scholar of the Government of Kerala (India). In addition to Boston College, he has taught at Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Phil has written and/or edited nearly 100 books and over 100 refereed articles on international and comparative higher education.

Carlos Iván Moreno is the Chief Academic and Innovation Officer and Professor in the Public Policy Department at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico). Dr. Moreno has also held positions as Chief of Staff at the Committee on Education in the National Congress; Advisor to the Undersecretary of Higher Education at the Public Education Secretariat (SEP); Vice Provost of Planning and Institutional Development, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Executive Vice President at the University of Guadalajara; and as International Consultant at IIPE-UNESCO. He was also a doctoral fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy in the University of Chicago and at the Kellogg School of Management in Northwestern University, in which he specialized in public policy analysis and organizational behavior. His research areas of interest are related to comparative higher education policy, institutional change, and power and politics in organizations.

Magdalena Bustos-Aguirre is Associate Professor at the University of Guadalajara. Her research and teaching are focused on tertiary education management and internationalization. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Mexican Association of International Education (AMPEI) since 2003 and was a consultant for the Tertiary Education Sector of the World Bank in 2016. She held leadership roles as a practitioner in the field of internationalization for more than 20 years. Currently, she is the coordinator of the Dual Degree Boston College – University of Guadalajara master’s in international Higher Education at the University of Guadalajara.

Sioux McKenna is the Director of the Graduate Studies Center and Professor of Higher Education at Rhodes University (South Africa). Sioux began her career with an interest in the particular literacy practices expected of students for success in different disciplines and the concern that these are not made readily accessible to all. From there she has become increasingly interested in the nature of knowledge itself - what forms of knowledge are legitimated in the academy and which are not, and which kinds of knowers are valued and which are not. She argues that significant reflection is needed as to what higher education is for (and whom it serves), in order for the university to be a space of social justice. Sioux has managed a number of large international projects funded by the Dutch Government, the South African Government, and the EU. These have allowed her to work with colleagues around the world to try to make sense of how we structure and fund our university systems and what it is that we value within such systems.

Anthony L. Pinder serves as the inaugural Vice Provost for Internationalization & Equity at Emerson College in Boston, MA (USA). In his role as Emerson’s chief international officer (CIO), Dr. Pinder is responsible for managing and building on all of the College’s global operations, notably the Emerson European Center at Kasteel Well, The Netherlands. In addition, Dr. Pinder provides leadership to the offices of International Student Affairs (OISA) and Education Abroad & Domestic Programs, as well as English Language Learning (ELL), and initiatives that support international fellowships/awards, international visitors/scholars and international faculty support services.  Dr. Pinder established Emerson’s nationally recognized Global Pathways Program, which features nearly 30 faculty-led education abroad programs around the world, and leads the College’s faculty development program, Curriculum Internationalization & Inclusive Pedagogy Studio. Under his leadership, Emerson won the prestigious 2020 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization, awarded by NAFSA. Prior to Emerson, Dr. Pinder served as CIO and Assistant Professor of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College, Morehouse College and Dillard University; as the Director for Minority & National Recruitment Initiatives with the U.S. Peace Corps (Washington, DC); as Peace Corps Country Director in Equatorial Guinea; and as a Small Enterprise Developer in Ecuador. In addition, Dr. Pinder held senior administrative appointments with the United Negro College Fund (Major Gifts Officer); The African American Institute (Sr. Program Officer); and Futures Trader with the grain-trading conglomerate, Cargill, Inc. in Kansas City, MO.