| Jan G.F. Veldhuis | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 4, 1938 Hengelo, Province of Overijssel |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University |
| Occupation | President |
| Employer | Utrecht University (1986-2003 |
| Children | 3 |
| Notes
Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau (Netherlands)
Chevalier de la Légion d 'Honneur (France) Encomienda de Numero de la Orden de Isabel la Católica (Spain) |
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Johannes Gerardus Franciscus (Jan) Veldhuis (Hengelo-O., October 4, 1938) is a Dutch administrator/ governor in the fields of scientific education and research, healthcare and culture, nationally and internationally. His latest function was president of Utrecht University, from 1986 until 2003. He still holds various part time governance functions.
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Veldhuis got the gymnasium diploma at the archbishop's preparatory seminary in Apeldoorn, 1951-1957 . After two years philosophy at the Philosophicum Dijnselburg in Huis ter Heide, he in 1959 started (modern) history, economics and constitutional and administrative law in Utrecht. He was active in the administration and governance of student’s and university organizations, which brought him into direct contact with the –in the eyes of many—outdated university governance structure. He graduated in June 1967, and got a Fulbright scholarship for a comparative study of the Dutch 'Plan of the Labor’ and the American ‘New Deal’ at the to the USA, University of Minnesota, this in the tumultuous years 1967-1968.
Veldhuis began his career in Sept.1968 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Cooperation. He was among the 10 signatories of the manifesto of 1970, that led to ‘the uprising of the young officials ' (‘de opstand van de jonge referendarissen’) and then to the integration of the ministry (binnendienst) and the diplomatic service (buitendienst).
When the 1970 Act Reforming the University Governance Structure (WUB / Law Veringa) took effect, Veldhuis turned back to his first functional love: he accepted at Leiden University a function, created to implement the WUB. Late 1972 he became secretary of the newly formed (Executive) Board of the University.
In 1974 he was appointed deputy permanent secretary-general of the Ministry of Education and Science (O & W) to the permanent secretary-general Maarten Van Wolferen, and the Minister Jos van Kemenade, who in 1973 had started his constructive education policy (Contourennota). Veldhuis had secondary education as a special area (middenschool-debate). Also, he chaired the team of the planning for the McKinsey reorganization of the inspectorate of education. In November 1978 he led the O & W -team, that supported Minister Pais in the 'Aantjes- affair’.
In 1979 Veldhuis was appointed director-general services education and inspectorate (DGDI), also inspector-general of education (IGO). In these positions he was faced with difficult policy issues : as DGDI with Minister Pais especially the mergers of teacher training colleges, and with Minister Deetman the significant budget cuts of the Lubbers cabinet, including the lowering of teachers' salaries; and as IGO with the implementation of the new organization of the inspectorate and with the pupils fraud, especially in primary schools. Veldhuis was one of the first who—after 25 years emphasis on equal opportunities—asked attention again, despite political opposition, for the quality of education. This got him in 1983 the participation in the U.S. International Visitor Leadership Program for research into the ‘Quality of Education in the USA’. His reporting led to a notorious publication in the leading Dutch newspaper NRC, and to a separate chapter – of his hand - on the quality of education in the explanatory memorandum to the O & W 1985 budget. With the U.S. ambassador Paul Bremer III he, as representative of Minister Deetman, innovated the Dutch Fulbright program. In 1985 he became chairman of the board of the Fulbright Commission, a subsidiary function he performed the following 16 years.
Starting 1986 Veldhuis was appointed Chairman of the Board (President) of Utrecht University,[1] as the ninth president in fourteen years. He there succeeded former cabinet minister Leendert Ginjaar. In Utrecht, in the view of many he was the major source of inspiration and the main architect of the remarkable renaissance in the recent decades of this ancient university. Despite strong resistance in the early years—with strikes, an occupation of the main administrative building and a short cause in court—the Board under his leadership carried through a major reorganization of the university, combined with a strategic process of renewal and profiling.
This led among others to the creation of concentration and priorities areas in research(initiative rector Hans van Ginkel); the project bèta-marketing : increasing the inflow of students into the science departments(initiative Erwin Vermeulen); the formation of the UMC Utrecht (University Hospital) with insertion of the famous Eye Hospital, the Ooglijdersgasthuis, and the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, WKZ (together with Gerlach Cerfontaine); modernization of the educational process : teaching competencies of university teachers and higher study outputs, and many new programs, especially Economics and Public Administration (with Erwin Vermeulen); foundation, and especially administrative and financial implementation of the University College Utrecht (initiative Prof. Hans Adriaansens); formation of the Academic Biomedical Cluster,ABC (initiative rector Willem Hendrik Gispen); and the establishment of TNO-NITG.
Also his board promoted successfully the internationalization of education (European Utrecht Network- initiative of Jeroen Torenbeek); cooperation with American and Chinese universities), the alumni policy, nationally and internationally (with Leneke Visser), and a prominent long standing new housing program with appealing architecture (initiative rector Hans van Ginkel and Arjan Sikkema).
In 1999 two Utrecht professors got the Nobel Prize for physics : Martinus Veltman and Gerard ‘t Hooft. In 2001 the king of Spain Juan Carlos was awarded an honorary doctorate of Utrecht University.
In 2003 Veldhuis retired after 18 years of presidency. Utrecht University then not only was the largest university of the Netherlands, but according to Elsevier Magazine[2] also the best teaching university, and according to the CWTS-Leiden ranking and the international Shanghai- and CHE rankings the best research university as well.
Veldhuis performed and still performs many other functions. At the moment (2010) a.o.:
Jan Veldhuis is married since 1968 to Monica M.H. Thier (1942), a physiotherapist. They have three sons, born in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and four grandchildren, born in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2010.