Rajika Bhandari

Dr. Rajika Bhandari is an international higher education expert and a scholar-practitioner with over 25 years of executive and management experience in student mobility research and data-driven insights; monitoring, evaluation, and impact studies of international education programs; and shaping thought leadership strategy in the nonprofit, private and higher education sectors. She is the founder of Rajika Bhandari Advisors, offering data-driven and evidence-based strategic consulting and advisory services for global higher education institutions, multilateral organizations, governmental agencies, foundations and the nonprofit sector.

Bhandari is the author of six academic and nonfiction books, as well as numerous publications exploring themes of movement, migration, and crossing borders. Her latest work, the award-winning memoir "America Calling: A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility," delves into these topics. Additionally, she hosts the "World Wise Podcast," a weekly exploration of the intersections of education, culture, and (im)migration. She has written for the New York Times, the Guardian, Times Higher Education, the Huffington Post, Ms. Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, the Chronicle of Higher Education, University World News and Diplomatic Courier; been featured on NPR, PRI International and Voice of America; and been quoted in the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Times of India, and TIME magazine, among others.

Bhandari has held senior leadership roles in the private, academic, and nonprofit sectors, most recently as the President and CEO of the IC3 Institute, prior to which she spent over a decade at the Institute of International Education (IIE), one of the world’s oldest and largest international education nonprofits. There, she led IIE’s research, impact and thought leadership activities, including the flagship Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange -- the most definitive resource on international students and scholars at U.S. colleges and universities and Americans studying abroad.

Bhandari has served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO and was one of 100 recipients worldwide to be awarded an IIE Centennial Medal in 2019, marking the Institute’s 100th anniversary. She has also taught as an Adjunct Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and frequently guest lectures at universities in the U.S. and abroad. She serves on the Boards of ISEP Study Abroad and Education Credential Evaluators (ECE) and is the co-founder of SouthAsia-IEN (South Asia International Education Network), which brings together leaders, practitioners, scholars, and entrepreneurs in the U.S. higher education space whose origins and/or work touch upon the countries of South Asia.

Bhandari has lived first-hand the experiences she studies and writes about. She came to the U.S. as a foreign student from India in 1992 to pursue a PhD in Psychology at North Carolina State University. She obtained her BA with Honors in Psychology at the University of Delhi, India.