Jozef Ritzen, (Dutch national, physics engineer, economist and politician) was Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of The Netherlands from 1989 to 1998, one of the longest-serving Ministers of Education in the world. During his term, he enacted a series of major reforms throughout the Dutch education system. Subsequently he was Vice President of the World Bank’s (1998-2003) and President of Maastricht University (2003-2011). Maastricht University grew out to become one of the leading international teaching research universities, with almost half of its students coming from abroad and problem based learning as the style of education, during his presidency. It is now ranked no 4 of the “young universities” (less than 50 years old).
He is now honorary professor of Maastricht University, senior advisor to the International Institute of Labor Studies IZA in Bonn, special adviser to RAND Europe, member of the several International Advisory Boards of the Universities.