June 18, 2026
From Heathrow Bags to Brain Surgery: Nicola Bate’s Remarkable Global Journey
<p>Nicola Bate’s story begins, in a way, with a woman loading bags at Heathrow.</p><p>Her mum, a single mother in West London, took a job with British Airways because it paid a little more, came with staff travel, and gave her the chance to show her young daughter the world. So while other kids came back from school holidays with stories from around the corner, Nicola came back with stories from Australia, Canada, China, Dubai and beyond.</p><p>Which is probably one of the more extraordinary origin stories we’ve had on Global Horizons.</p><p>In this wide-ranging and deeply human conversation, Rob Malicki sits down with Nicola Bate to trace a life shaped by travel, curiosity, relationships and the strange, wonderful, interconnected world of international education.</p><p>From her early years growing up near Heathrow, to an unexpected first international education role that sent her to Delhi with little more than a passport and a willingness to learn, Nicola’s journey is full of the kind of sliding-door moments that make you realise careers rarely move in straight lines.</p><p>But this conversation is also much more than a career story.</p><p>Rob and Nicola dig into what universities often miss when trying to differentiate themselves, why communication and trust matter just as much as product, and why the people standing in front of students, parents and agents hold more influence than they sometimes realise.</p><p>Nicola shares, with enormous honesty, her experience of being diagnosed with a brain tumour, undergoing surgery, recovering, and quietly returning to work before most of the sector knew what had happened. </p><p>In this episode, we cover:</p><ul><li>Nicola’s childhood near Heathrow and how her mum’s job at British Airways opened up the world</li><li>The letter-writing adventure that first brought Nicola and her mum to Nowra and Jervis Bay</li><li>A teenage trip to China that shifted Nicola’s understanding of travel, privilege and culture</li><li>How Nicola fell into international education after being asked one simple question: “Do you have a passport?”</li><li>Why agents, students and parents are often looking for trust, reliability and confidence, not just a glossy product</li><li>Whether Australian universities are doing enough to differentiate themselves</li><li>Why sales in education should not feel like manipulation, but like influence in service of the other person</li><li>Practical lessons in communication, storytelling, persuasion and asking better questions</li><li>Nicola’s tuk-tuk adventure around Sri Lanka, including the terrifying, stressful and magical bits</li><li>Her brain tumour diagnosis, surgery, recovery and what it taught her about resilience, vulnerability and carrying hard things quietly</li><li>Why everyone is carrying something, even when we cannot see it</li><li>What Nicola might do next, from Federation University to future humanitarian work, travel support, or possibly even a return to airport life</li></ul><p>There are moments in this conversation that are funny, strange and beautifully unexpected.</p><p>There are also moments that stop you in your tracks.</p><p>Because underneath all the stories about planes, agents, Sri Lanka, sales training, Nowra, Macquarie, Federation and international education, this is really a conversation about people. The people who open doors for us. The people who teach us how to move through the world. The people who help us when life suddenly tilts sideways. And the people we become because of it all.</p><p>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. 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 <a href="mailto:podcast@globalsociety.com.au">podcast@globalsociety.com.au</a></p>
