Maria Kelo, Director of Institutional Development at the European University Association, tells us how her international education journey started as an undergraduate student at the London School of Economics, which took her to Brussels for a traineeship at the European Commission in the Higher Education Policy Unit. This latter experience set the tone for her career which led her taking the role of Director of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), before joining the EUA.

Maria tells of her interest and experience in international cooperation at policy level, in particular in the context of the Bologna process, and shares insights on current developments in the European Higher Education Area, such as conversations around European Degrees, the quality assurance and recognition of joint programmes, and the revision of the European Standards and Guidelines. She reflects on the needs for universities to be future oriented and prepared to adapt to change, such as advancement in AI and digital technology, and the changing political landscape in Europe less favourable than before to internationalisation … and she shares the memorable moments of the approval of the 2015 ESGs revision by the Bologna ministerial conference, and ending up reading in a private mass to the Pope when carrying out an ENQA review of the Holy See Quality Assurance Agency.