Meet the team

George Hunt

• Director of International Development
• george.hunt@tees.ac.uk

George is Teesside's Director of International Development, with responsibility for overseeing international recruitment, student mobility initiatives and international partnerships.

Jessica Watson-James

• Head of International Recruitment
• j.watsonjames@tees.ac.uk

Jessica joined Teesside University in March 2022 with significant experience of recruiting and marketing to both UK and international students. Her career has been centred around higher education having worked in Swansea University and Cardiff University previously.

Lindsey Paylor-Orr

• International Marketing Officer
• l.paylor-orr@tees.ac.uk

Lindsey's background is in creative arts and design in the public sector. Lindsey worked in London for several years in marketing and communication roles at University of the Arts, London before joining Teesside University in 2015 as International Marketing Assistant, bringing a keen interest in visual communication.

Angela Faulkner

• Centre Administrator
• a.faulkner@tees.ac.uk

Angela has been with the university for over eleven years, the last six in International Development. Her previous roles involved working with students, businesses and stakeholders, skills she still continues to use in her current role. As Administrator she is responsible for monitoring the department budgets, arranging travel and supporting the Centre Manager with Erasmus+.

Louise Connolly

• Personal Assistant to the Director of International Development
• l.connolly@tees.ac.uk

With over 20 years' experience in Administration and PA roles across Teesside, Louise joined Teesside University in September 2013. She has previously worked as a PA in the School of Design, Culture and the Arts and the School of Science, Engineering and Design. Since February 2019, Louise has delivered the role of PA to the Director for International Development.

Imran Rashid

• International Recruitment Manager - Middle East, North Africa and UK International
• I.Rashid@tees.ac.uk

Imran joined Teesside University in March 2021 and has extensive experience in recruiting both UK and international students across his career. Imran worked in UK student recruitment for Teesside University and the University of Sunderland and then went on to work for QA Higher Education, where he recruited students from the Middle East and North Africa regions.

Alizée Cordes

• International Student Mobility Manager
• A.Cordes@tees.ac.uk

Alizée joined Teesside University in 2021 with experience in international student support, international mobility and recruitment. Prior to joining the university, she worked at York St John University and University Bordeaux Montaigne (France).

Ijeoma Mbajunwa

• West Africa Country Manager
• africa@tees.ac.uk

Ijeoma joined Teesside University's West Africa Regional Office in 2019. She has provided administrative support for international students from across West Africa who intend to study at Teesside University, since 2014.

Vivian Amadi

• Assistant West Africa Country Manager
• V.Amadi@tees.ac.uk

Vivian has a background in Economics and joined Teesside University in March 2021. She is currently serving as the Assistant West Africa Country Manager where she plays the role of student support.

Shukurah Abolanle

• Assistant Manager, Admissions & Compliance
• S.Olajide@tees.ac.uk

Shukurah Abolanle joined Teesside University West Africa Regional Office as Assistant Manager Admissions & Compliance in November 2021 where she is responsible for admissions and compliance issues within the region and provides support to international students on their application.

Faith Nwaochei

• Assistant Manager, Admissions & Compliance
• F.Nwaochei@tees.ac.uk

Faith has a track record of 7 years + of experience in administration operation and customer service. She joined Teesside University in March 2022 where she works with extensive hands-on international development, paying attention to administration and compliance-related concerns, as well as interfacing with international students across West Africa providing adequate student support to ensure smooth administrative operation and coordination.

HOU Liang

• China Regional Director
• hou.liang@tees.ac.uk

Liang joined Teesside University's International team in 2007 and leads the China office for the University.

Liang originally came as an international student in 1999 from Shandong Province in China; he enjoys much of the local culture and made lots of friends locally.

WANG Mengsi

• Office Manager
• m.wang@tees.ac.uk

Mengsi has been working for Teesside University China office since March 2012. She has worked in a variety of roles including admissions, marketing and recruitment in China. Her current role as Manager of the China office includes responsibility for Business School recruitment and managing the team. Mengsi enjoys traveling across China, interacting with students and providing the most up to date information about Teesside University.

SUN Pingyao

• Recruitment Manager
• p.sun@tees.ac.uk

Pingyao joined Teesside University China Office in April 2015 after graduating from the University of the West Scotland (BA) and Cardiff University (PG). Initially responsible for admissions, in September 2016 Pingyao started to work as Recruitment Officer for Creative programmes and managed the agent network, international foundation programmes, public universities, articulation programmes and individual applicants.

ZHOU Jiaqi

• Marketing Officer
• j.zhou@tees.ac.uk

Jiaqi accomplished her master program in Southampton in 2014. Her previous working experience at a German education consulting company has brought her great interest in education and marketing. Jiaqi joined Teesside University as the Marketing Officer within the China Office in early 2017 and is responsible for marketing activities in China. She aims to enhance the branding of Teesside University in China.

TANG Tianyu

• Tianyu.Tang@tees.ac.uk

Tianyu has accomplished his master's programme in Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2015 and joined Teesside University China Office in early 2019. He is responsible for the agent network and Health programmes. He enjoys local food during travel and like extreme sports.

GAO Zisong

• Z.Gao@tees.ac.uk

Zisong graduated from the Teesside University in 2018 with a merit master's degree in Accounting and Finance. She joined Teesside University China Office as an International Officer in middle 2019. Her education background and overseas study experience at Teesside university make her love and understand the university more, and she is willing to devote herself to the work of China office, hoping to let more students know about the university and join the beautiful campus.

ZHAI Jiayue

• J.Zhai@tees.ac.uk

Jiayue graduated from the University of Southampton with Marketing Management and joined in China office in July 2019. She is mainly responsible for Admissions and assists colleagues by responding to enquiries from student or agents as well. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling for enriching the knowledge and experiencing various cultures.

Syed Abidi

• Regional Director - Pakistan
• S.Abidi@tees.ac.uk

Syed Abidi is a renowned Educationist, Consultant and Trainer with over 25 years' experience in international education, marketing and recruitment. His responsibilities include expanding the current Pakistan market, overseeing the agent network, training and assuring outstanding support is delivered to students and partners of Teesside University.

Khalida Parveen

• Business development & operations officer
• k.parveen@tees.ac.uk

Khalida has joined Teesside Regional Office Pakistan as Business Development and Operations Officer. She has more than 8 years of experience in international student recruitment and marketing with different reputable agencies. She will be assisting the Pakistan office in enhancing TU branding and profile and provide support in day to day operations.

Zaeem Masood

• Regional Support Officer - Pakistan
• z.masood@tees.ac.uk

Zaeem joined Teesside University in June 2021. He has 15 years of experience in student recruitment. He is responsible for admissions, marketing and recruitment activities in the Pakistan and Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region, including developing and maintaining working relationships with agencies.

Padmini Parameswaran

• South Asia Regional Director
• padmini.parameswaran@tees.ac.uk

Padmini joined Teesside University in the year 2016. She has 20 years of experience with Education UK. She started her professional career as a teacher and after working with some of the best schools across the country she joined Middlesex University's Regional Office as Manager of Admissions. She was Regional Director at University of Central Lancashire, University of East London and Northumbria University before she joined Teesside University.

Nitin Bhasson

• Marketing & Recruitment Manager
• n.bhasson@tees.ac.uk

Nitin joined Teesside University South Asia Regional Office in 2017 as Marketing and Recruitment Manager. Nitin brings over 11 years of work experience in the international education and marketing and recruitment industry.

Jayanti Pathare

• Conversions Manager
• J.Pathare@tees.ac.uk

Jayanti joined Teesside University's South Asia office in December 2021 as an Assistant Manager and is currently working as the Conversions Manager; responsible for recruitment, conversions, and pre-departure activities among other things. She has almost a decade's worth of experience with Immigration New Zealand, having worked at their Auckland and Mumbai offices, where her last role was as a Technical Advisor.

Kinjal Gandhi

• Marketing and Recruitment Manager
• K.Gandhi@tees.ac.uk

Kinjal recently joined Teesside University as a Marketing and Recruitment Manager. She started her career as a Student Advisor for Higher Education in UK in 2006 and have been trained and certified by the British Council and British Deputy High Commission in India towards promoting UK education and training. Kinjal also previously worked for De Montfort University in Leicester as an International Student Advisor.

Iona Furtado

• Compliance Manager - South Asia
• i.furtado@tees.ac.uk

Iona joined Teesside University as a Compliance Manager (South Asia) in 2021. She has 17 years of experience, a better part of which was as a Senior Immigration Officer at Immigration New Zealand. She also previously worked in operations at JP Morgan Chase.

Padvala Nandan Naidu

• Compliance Manager - South Asia
• p.naidu@tees.ac.uk

Nandan joined Teesside University as a Compliance Manager (South Asia) in 2021. His work involves conducting credibility interviews, verifying maintenance documents, overseeing enrollments and looking after compliance issues for South Asia applicants.

June Chai

• South East Asia Regional Director
• j.chai@tees.ac.uk

June joined Teesside University South East Asia regional office in early 2019. Prior to Teesside University, she was also in recruitment of students for Malaysia, the UK and USA institutions for the past 15 years. Her current role includes developing and executing strategic business plans, positioning of Teesside University in SEA, building a strong network of local partners, recruitment of students with her team in the regional office; just to name a few.

Rachel Lee

• Operations Manager
• rachel.lee@tees.ac.uk

Rachel graduated from Lancaster University in 2019 with a MBA Master of Business Administration. She joined Teesside University's South East Asia regional office in 2007 when the office started its operations.

Ronnie Chai

• Assistant Regional Manager Southeast Asia
• r.chai@tees.ac.uk

Ronnie joined Teesside University as Assistant Regional Manager to support the execution of regional recruitment, marketing strategy, market research, marketing campaigns and marketing communications. He also supports the development and management of partnerships in conjunction with the international partnerships team and supports other initiatives aimed at raising the profile of Teesside University in these markets.