Zafeena Suresh

Zafeena Suresh is the director of the IU India Gateway office. She brings extensive connections and experience in working with students, parents, scholars, school and higher education leaders, and alumni. Prior to coming to IU, Suresh was Head of Higher Education at the British Council in New Delhi, where she led various country-wide promotional and alumni-engagement campaigns and managed a range of scholarships including the British Council India Scholarships for women in STEM and the Future Leaders Program for Indian youth. Previously, Suresh was a senior advisor at EducationUSA, New Delhi, where she designed student recruitment activities, conducted workshops for undergraduate and graduate university applications, and managed relationships with numerous U.S. universities. She designed and executed the first EducationUSA virtual graduate fair in India, connecting students across 100 Indian cities directly with U.S universities. She also collated the graduate financial aid data, which was a valuable resource for EducationUSA centers globally. Suresh holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Bangalore University. Before moving into international education, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in sociology at colleges across India.

Areas of Expertise

Sociology, social gerontology, international education, student recruitment, grants for international HEIs, partnerships.