Hilligje van't Land, PhD
Dr. Hilligje van’t Land serves the global higher education community as Secretary General of the International Association of Universities (IAU), the global voice of higher education (NGO with UNESCO Associate Status), which celebrated its 70th Anniversary in 2020. For the past two decades, she has fostered the key role of higher education in societal transformation. She supervises the overall programme activities of the IAU, develops the Association’s strategic plans and oversees the everyday work of the secretariat.
Hilligje van’t Land strongly believes in the importance of international cooperation and intercultural understanding and has developed multilateral projects related higher education and beyond.
She positioned the IAU as partner in UNESCO work on Education for sustainable development and in particular the UNESCO ESD for 2030 Programme, the UNESCO Futures of Education initiative and Mission 4.7, as member of the High Level Advisory Board. She fosters the positioning of higher education as a key stakeholder for the UN Agenda 2030 – Transforming our world. She represents IAU in other working groups and expert committees including at the Council of Europe where she sits on: the higher education working group, the Ad hoc Working Group on the Local Mission of the University, the Steering Committee for Best Practice Programme in Promoting Academic Integrity, and the Work Group on Competences for a Democratic Culture. The is a member of the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Reform Conferences (HER); Sulitest; the Advisory Committees of two European University Alliances (ERUA and CircleU); and IAU as key partner in the Global Cooperation for a Culture of Democracy.
Hilligje van’t Land holds a PhD in comparative francophone literature, speaks six languages and published on higher education issues of relevance locally and globally.
Examples of latest publications: The Promise of Higher Education; Higher Education’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Building a More Sustainable and Democratic Future, Book coedited by IAU, and published as part of the Council of Europe Higher Education Book series. Higher Education and SDG 14: Integrating Ocean Research for the Global Goals, 2021; Three Global Survey Reports on the impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education around the World (latest one in 2023); IAU-UNODC Young Scholars Competition: Higher Education engages with SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, 2021; The Role of Higher Education and Life Long Learning Survey Report with UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. She also initiated an IAU Webinar Series on the Future of Higher Education, The recording of over 60 Webinars can be accessed via IAU.
For further information on the above and on the IAU: www.iau-aiu.net