When I sat down with Michelle Teasdale at UWA, looking out across Matilda Bay on one of those impossibly beautiful Perth days, I knew we’d have a good conversation. What I didn’t quite expect was just how far the conversation would travel.

What starts with a slightly-too-familiar international education story about lost luggage quickly opens out into something much richer: childhood in the Pilbara, an exchange to Germany at 16, opening up new student markets like Mongolia, reflections on leadership, and the strange, wonderful way curiosity can shape an entire life. Michelle is one of those people who makes you feel, almost immediately, that international education is still, at its core, about people. About listening. About being open to the world and to each other.

There’s also something beautifully full-circle in this episode. Michelle has spent so many years helping students step into the unknown, and now she’s watching her own daughters do the same, heading out into the world with roots, wings, and just enough independence to make it all interesting.

This is a conversation about travel, yes, but also about confidence, family, mentorship, leadership and what it means to stay curious, whether you’re sitting in a boardroom, on a plane, or in the middle of nowhere in the red dirt of Western Australia.

In this episode, we get into:

• what Michelle loves most about UWA, and why campus culture matters so much

• how international education has changed over two decades, and what hasn’t

• growing up in Tom Price and Karijini, with a childhood that feels almost mythic in retrospect

• going on exchange to Germany at 16 without speaking the language

• opening up Mongolia as a recruitment market, with no blueprint and no prior connections

• leadership, mentoring and the difference between listening to hear and listening to respond

• raising daughters who are now beginning their own international adventures

• why curiosity might be one of the most underrated qualities in both work and life

Michelle comes across in this conversation as grounded, thoughtful and quietly adventurous. She’s clearly someone who has grown alongside the sector itself, and who has managed to hold onto the human side of the work even as universities have become faster, bigger and more complex. I suspect a lot of listeners will hear parts of themselves in this one, whether it’s the early-career uncertainty, the love of travel, the challenge of leadership, or simply the joy of a really good conversation with someone who is genuinely interested in the world.

Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Angelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website.

Global Horizons is the OFFICIAL podcast of the AIEC... a real privilege for us since it is the "do not miss" event of the year. Check out the conference website at aiec.idp.com

This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets. For guest suggestions and feedback, email podcast@globalsociety.com.au