The report if the International Advisory Committee on Greek Higher Education

REPORT

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE

ON

HIGHER EDUCATION

IN GREECE

February 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. PREAMBLE ………………………………………………... 3

B. REPORT …………………………………………………… 4

I. Introduction ………………………………... 4

II. Observations ……………………………….. 6

A. The Challenge …………………………... 6

B. The Findings …………………………….. 7

III. Broad Recommendations …………………… 9

C. Appendix A: Members of International Committee ………. 13

D. Appendix B: Agenda of December 16, 2010, Meeting……… 18

IV.

A. PREAMBLE

Greece is undergoing critical changes that will determine its future for decades to come. Greek higher education, as a result, requires adopting a new model based on social values and principles characteristic of the country’s culture that encompasses Greece’s spirit of democracy and social justice.

Higher education in Greece revolves around the public university, which has steered the country’s development since the founding of the Greek state, as well as the public Technological Institute which assumed a significant role in the development of the Greek economy after World War II. Despite the major role of the Greek university in the early years of the post-industrial revolution, higher education in Greece in the 1980’s and 1990’s took a turn that did not align well with social and economic changes in Europe and elsewhere in the world. As Greece joined the EU, these misalignments became more prominent and have created major barriers to improving the economy and stabilizing Greece’s social and political structures.

At present, the organization and administration of the Greek university seems to be at odds with the needs of the Greek public, as well as the values and principles upon which the Greek university system was built. Further, these administrative and financial barriers have created a culture of conservatism that does not allow universities and their faculties to achieve the quality of education and social impact that these universities have been commissioned to provide. In order to empower Greek higher education, and help it achieve its mission to improve quality of life for all, barriers must be removed and the Greek university must be reformed.

The stakes are high, not only for government and the academic community, but for the country as a whole – culturally, socially and economically. Thus, everyone must stand up to this challenge. The Ministry of Education’s set of proposals would form a new identity for Greek higher education, and this report will comment on those proposals and provide independent observations and broad recommendations.

The International Advisory Committee has nine members listed on Appendix A. Due to scheduling conflicts only five members of the committee including Chancellor Katehi, President Sexton, President Naylor, President Hernes and President Ritzen where able to participate in their meeting in Greece on December 17, 2010. This report was synthesized by these five members using their notes from the individual and group discussions (see Agenda in Appendix B), material they were provided in advance and additional publications they had access to after the meeting. All members of the committee were given the opportunity to read the report and provide their written comments.

B. REPORT

I. Introduction

In September 2010, the Greek government announced the formation of an International Committee[1] to assess the organization of Greek universities. The committee was empowered to provide broad recommendations and advice on how to reform the Greek university system to achieve its mission to educate and improve quality of life, and align it with European universities.

The committee includes nine members from around the world who agreed to offer their advice and guidance. The members of the committee are international scholars with extensive experience as presidents of major universities from the EU, US, Australia and Asia. This experience provides them with the ability to understand the challenges facing the Greek university and Greek society and to appreciate the opportunities to reform and re-invigorate higher education in Greece. A list of the members of this committee and their short bios is given on Appendix A.

A subset of the committee including Chancellor Katehi, President Sexton, President Naylor, President Hernes and President Ritzen met in Greece on December 17, 2010 and participated in discussions with Minister Diamantopoulou, Deputy Minister Panaretos, Rectors and Vice Rectors of various Greek Universities, and representatives of political parties. The agenda of the December 17 meeting is attached on Appendix B.

The members of the committee who participated in the visit have constructed the following report that expresses their impressions and observations, and offers recommendations that the Greek Government could consider as it tries to rethink and reform Higher Education in Greece.

The committee wishes to express its admiration for the willingness of the Greek government to undertake a thorough study of the state of the country’s university system. The goal to reform implies changes that should be implemented if the Greek universities are to be strengthened, improve quality of education and become engines of innovation and economic development.

History has proven that major financial crises affect societal values and have the potential to trigger major social changes. In the past two years, Greece has been at the center of an unprecedented financial challenge that is threatening the social values, dogmas and structures upon which the Greek state has been built.

Navigating Greece out of this crisis and into a future characterized by economic prosperity requires that the Greek university system be embraced as a national asset. It must be preserved, strengthened and protected. As national assets, Greek universities are entrusted to their leadership and faculty who are appointed as guardians and stewards to these national resources. Their primary role is to provide an education according to the Greek Constitution, provide equal access and equal opportunity for learning, and prepare students for work and citizenship.

There is a great volume of literature by educators and economists from all around the world who have spoken to the importance of the university in sustaining democratic social structures and contributing to vibrant economies. In the paragraphs below, we outline a few facts that inform the observations and recommendations in this report.

a) The case has been made extensively that the public university’s mission to provide access to excellence cannot be achieved without[2]:

· adequate resources

· autonomy and accountability

· a responsible and enlightened university leadership

b) b) Universities can become economic drivers if they produce sufficient numbers of well-qualified graduates[3]. Without such a supply, countries or states cannot develop a local innovation ecosystem and cannot sustain a thriving economy.

c) c) Universities should teach progressive thinking and encourage entrepreneurship. Both theoretical and experimental data show that graduates with a broad education and curiosity-driven learning skills are much more likely to innovate and to start their own businesses[4].

d) The ideal of full public finance of higher education and a system without restrictions on admissions has been widely shared in Europe in the era after World War II. However, as participation increased, a larger contribution from the government was needed at a time when government liabilities increased and the public became less willing or interested in paying higher taxes. The conflict between these two trends has limited funding to universities and has compromised quality².

This report includes a set of observations and broad recommendations which may be found useful as the Greek government considers reforming the higher education system and improving the structures within Greek universities. This report is not intended to provide specific solutions but will offer a host of possibilities. These recommendations are intended to strengthen the Greek Universities and support them in their effort to educate the Greek public, protect democracy and fuel upward social mobility.

A. The Challenge

The major challenge for educational policy in Greece is that the country does not get enough competence from the talents of its people. The results achieved are not on par with the skills that can be developed. This is not just a question of advancing the attainments of those who continue on to higher education, but of better utilizing the faculties of every citizen.

Without changes, the Greek population will be undereducated and research understaffed for the requirements of a knowledge-driven society. Civic culture will suffer. Greek universities will not maintain international standards. This is a problem permeating the whole system, from training in basic education to time spent on basic research.

But there is much reason for optimism: The Greek system of higher education can indeed be improved. With enthusiasm-driven, effort and reform, it is possible to achieve a comprehensive betterment of both quality and performance. What is desired is within reach. Increased quality can go hand in hand with the goal of equal opportunity, independent of gender, social, geographic, ethnic or social background.

The Greek system of higher education is mired in the past – with structures and procedures that hamper the development of skill and talent. No one starting from scratch would organize higher education in Greece as it is found today. Hence, comprehensive reforms are necessary – urgently. There is a broad understanding in Greece of what needs to be done. Yet the system provides short-term benefits for maintaining the status quo, and therefore many are finding incentives to oppose reform. Instead, universities must be given the freedom to change and their faculty, students and staff should be empowered to act.

The challenges Greek higher education faces cannot be solved piecemeal. A fundamental reorientation is necessary under a well-articulated perspective on the future of universities, based on universal principles for the aims of higher education and research. Greek universities will have to change in a global environment that itself is changing, rapidly and irreversibly. Among the changes are the growth of knowledge economies, the information revolution, the internationalization of economies, migration and brain drain. If reforms are not implemented now to meet and master these changes, Greece will increasingly be at a disadvantage.

No Western country has such an illustrious academic past as Greece – indeed, the legacy of classical Greece has provided the foundation for all higher education and research around the world: Greece needs to catch up with its past, urgently and decisively.

A country as small as Greece can no longer afford to lose the talents of its citizens. A comprehensive program of reform needs to be undertaken and implemented without delay.

B. The Findings

In addition to the various meetings in Greece on December 17, 2010, the members of the committee had access to reports, documents and parts of the Greek Constitution as it relates to higher education. The reports, discussions and debates among the members of the committee informed the following findings:

· This is a critical time in Greece’s history, characterized by a financial crisis with serious ramifications for the country’s existing social and political structures. Addressing the challenge as was articulated above requires fundamental and meaningful reform not only of the Greek financial institutions but of educational institutions as well.

· Greece’s system of Higher Education suffers from a crisis of values as well as outdated policies and organizational structures. The tragedy is that leaders, scholars, students and political parties that aim to promote the public good have been trapped in a system that subverts the goals they seek, corrupts the ideals they pursue and forsakes the public they serve.

· The enormity of the challenge and the urgency with which it must be addressed requires not just reform, but a change in civic culture. And this can only come from fundamental changes, notably in the institutions of higher learning which have to set the example and demonstrate the standards for the rest of the society.

· The committee’s discussions indicated that there is a clear majority among stakeholders in favor of reforming higher education, though there is no agreement on what this reform should be, who should initiate it and how, and a forceful minority that advocates no change should be handled.

· A number of political decisions have led to governance policies within the university that provide an imbalance of power and control on academic issues and decisions. For example, students have 40% of the vote in the selection of university administrators. This imbalance of governance has led to decisions that are politically motivated and have not benefited the quality of the academic enterprise.

· Among all the EU member states and a few other countries (Australia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico[5]), Greece has shown the highest expenditures per university student and the largest increase in these expenditures between 1995 and 2005. However, Greek universities and their faculty feel impoverished; they have no financial autonomy or accountability and they are at the mercy of a bureaucracy that stalls every effort to provide efficiency and transparency.

· Greek universities lack the most fundamental information technology and other assessment tools to measure input and output parameters and to objectively assess performance (completion rates, offers/acceptances, publication performance and teaching effectiveness of professors). For example, universities have not established mechanisms to keep track of vital statistics: how many students attend classes, how many students transfer effectively, how many students graduate in 5, 6 or 8 years, what is the cost of educating the students, etc.

· Using inadequate methods, Greek universities report the lowest graduation rate in the EU. Only about one-third of enrolled students graduate within the required period. For example, out of the 600,000 students thought to be enrolled in Greek Higher Education Institutions, only 180,000 approximately have registered to collect the free textbooks provided by the state.

· Among all EU member countries, Greece has the largest number of tudents leaving Greece to enroll in universities in Europe and elsewhere. Every year, 60,000 Greek students attend European universities.

· The unemployment rates of graduates, and periods of unemployment after graduation, are unacceptably high. Their employability is compromised by the economy and their reduced ability to compete with graduates from other European universities.

· Greek university campuses are not secure. While the Constitution allows University leaders to protect campuses against elements that seek political instability, Rectors have been reluctant to exercise their rights and responsibilities, and to make decisions needed in order to keep faculty, staff and students safe. As a result, University leaders and faculty have not been able to be good stewards of the facilities they have been entrusted with by the public.

· The politicization of the campuses – and specifically the politicization of students – represents a beyond-reasonable involvement in the political process. This is contributing to an accelerated degradation of higher education.

· There are many pockets of good research, yet overall the research effort lags behind in comparisons with the other EU members.

Over the last 30 years, the Greek university system has undergone organizational and cultural changes that are prohibiting its universities from achieving their goals and attending to their mission. Greece is trying to reverse this path and within this process it must also reform the financial and educational institutions that support the society and impact economic growth. Education in general, and Higher Education more specifically, desperately require reform, if Greece is to sustain the financial and economic initiatives presently under way and to succeed in reversing the conditions of a downward economy.

In view of the above, the committee is suggesting the following:

A. Clarify the Mission of the Various Greek Institutions of Higher Education: The University System

· Greek universities have unclear missions, inadequate goals and uncertain futures. There is an unclear division between undergraduate four-year technical institutions and research universities. It is important for the Ministry of Education to initiate a process that will help revisit and clarify the mission of all Greek universities. The ministry should re-establish strategic goals and identify a system of institutions of higher education with memoranda of understanding between these institutions that promote collaboration and coordination rather than encourage competition and friction.

· The Greek Higher Education System is missing a very important component of post secondary education. These are the two-year, Regional Colleges. These vocational institutions play a key role in educating the society and in contributing to economic development. The usefulness and importance of these colleges is in their ability to:

§ Provide a thorough foundation to students who may wish to learn a vocation and to work in professions that do not require higher education.

§ Provide education to students who at present, through the national assessment tests, have no access to a Greek public institution of post-secondary education.

§ Allow students to receive a solid education without having to leave their homes and move to other communities, kilometers away from their own towns and families.

§ Allow the top students to have the means to matriculate to four year colleges under well described articulations and processes.

§ Become an engine of economic development for the surrounding towns and communities

B. Strengthen the Autonomy of the Greek Universities: The University Board

· Universities should forge links with the international academic community to ensure a robust exchange of ideas, to set and maintain standards and to connect with Greek scholars abroad.

· Universities should be autonomous in terms of managing their resources, independently appointing the leadership and administration and making academic decisions that promote their strategic goals. Each institution must be able to manage and support its choices and identify additional resources that will help the institution in achieving its goals.

· The universities should be managed and overseen by an appointed, independent Board of Overseers which is responsible for the well-being of the university (ies) they oversee. There are many examples around the world to select from, but the two most common approaches are: (a) an independent board for each institution or (b) an independent board for a group of institutions that share common characteristics.

· In an effort to strengthen the independence of universities, the rectors, vice-rectors, department heads and other academic administrators should be chosen by dedicated search committees with representation from alumni, faculty, students, non-academic staff and external appointees who enjoy great respect for their professional or civic contributions and their integrity. These committees should be tied to the university governing board or council. University leaders should be appointed with due process and should be regularly reviewed. Their re-appointments should be based on a thorough independent internal and external merit review.

C. Strengthening Faculty Governance: the Faculty Senate

· To achieve a meaningful and successful self-government and succeed in a continuous improvement of academic quality, each institution should have strong faculty governance. Toward this end, a new system is proposed that will include a Senate for each institution. If the universities are grouped into systems by mission or by any other attribute, it is appropriate to also consider a System Senate that is comprised of all the chairs and co-chairs of the participating university senates and other faculty specifically elected for participation in this Senate[6].

· Academic appointments in addition to faculty reviews and faculty promotions should be the prerogative of the Faculty Senate with the decisions (appointments or promotions) to receive review and final approval by the President (Rector). In the case of faculty appointments the recommendation should be made to the Dean by the Department Head and by the Dean to the Provost (Vice Rector) or President (Rector). A similar process should be followed for faculty promotions.

· Department Heads should be selected by the appropriate search committees and should be appointed by the Deans with the approval of the Provost (Vice Rector) or President (Rector). Deans should be selected by the appropriate search committees and should be appointed by the President (Rector) with the approval of the University’s Governing Board.

D. Enforce Accountability: Measuring Performance

· It is necessary that the universities be accountable for their actions. They should have the responsibility to measure and publicly report their academic performance.

· Universities should acquire information technology tools and develop policies and processes which allow them to annually measure the output parameters and assess the effectiveness of their operation. Some examples: tenure track faculty headcount and FTEs (full time equivalent), temporary lecturers in headcount and FTEs, enrolled students by year, graduated students (4 years, 6 years and 8 years), research expenditures, publications, citations etc.

· Universities should report the teaching load of their faculty in the form of student credit hours and focus on improving graduation rates and retention. Improving graduation rates should become a primary goal.

E. Improving Undergraduate Curricula and Strengthening Graduate Studies

· The University Senate should be responsible for revising and approving undergraduate and graduate curricula. The curricula should be flexible, of the highest academic quality, should reflect the needs of the profession and the needs and aspirations of Greek society. The Senate should also be concerned with the organization of degree programs and the procedure of examinations. Studies should be specified in the internal rules of each institution, within a broad framework set by the state. All new curricula and existing curricula changes should require the final approval by the Provost (Vice Rector) and President (Rector). The various degree programs should be accredited by an appropriate accreditation board regularly.

· We support the establishment of Schools or Offices of Graduate Studies in every institution. These schools or offices should be in charge of developing and proposing postgraduate qualification programs, and doctoral programs to the Senate. These schools or offices should be responsible for making sure that program requirements are satisfied for the award of graduate degrees.

F. Ethics and Transparency: Creating Trust

· In this particularly difficult period, every euro spent educating students is essential. A special public service or an independent authority should be responsible for handling and distributing public funding to institutions, for evaluating the cost of services, for processing relevant indicators and standards and collecting all necessary data from the institutions.

· It is necessary that universities create a set of rules of faculty, staff and student engagement based on a broad set of ethics. The universities should have clear clauses that define and manage conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment to safeguard against unintended misappropriations, mismanagement, plagiarism and nepotism. The universities should have a clear set of rules and processes to promote and enforce ethics in a way that brings about trust.

· Each university should perform its own audit of various financial functions and report regularly the results of this audit.

Members of International Committee

Patrick Aebischer

Professor of Medical Science and President of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Patrick Aebischer was trained as an MD (1980) and a Neuroscientist (1983) at the University of Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, United States), as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences. In 1991, he became the chairman of the Section of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology of the Division of Biology and Medicine of Brown University. In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. In 1999, Patrick Aebischer was nominated President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) by the Swiss Federal Council. He took office as President on March 2000 and since January 2004, he is a member of the ETH-Board. His current research focuses on the development of cell and gene transfer approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Patrick Aebischer is a member of numerous professional societies, both in Europe and America. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the Swiss Academy of Medicine. Patrick Aebischer is also a founder of two biotechnology companies: CytoTherapeutics (today Stem Cell Inc) and Modex Therapeutics (today IsoTis).

Gavin Brown

Professor of Mathematics and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney. (retired as Vice-Chancellor on 10 July 2008)

At the University of New South Wales, Brown held a number of academic administrative posts, including Head of the Department of Pure Mathematics, Head of the School of Mathematics, and Dean of the Faculty of Science. In 1992, he became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Adelaide; later, in 1994, he became the Vice-Chancellor. He took up his final position as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney in 1996. Brown was actively involved in the work of the Australian Research Council as a chairman of various funding committees from 1988-1993, and a member of the Council from 1992-1993. Brown has authored more than a hundred research papers and he is on the board of several international journals. His research areas have been broad, including measure theory and algebraic geometry. He holds a Master of Arts degree (1st Class Honours and the Duncan Medal) from University of St Andrews (1963), a PhD from University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1966), an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of St Andrews (1997), and an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Dundee (2004). In 2006, Brown was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.

James J. Duderstadt

Professor of Science and Engineering and President Emeritus, University Professor of Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan and Director, the Millennium Project

James Duderstadt is a graduate of Yale (B.S.E. in electrical engineering) and Caltech (M.S. and Ph.D. in engineering science and physics), Dr. Duderstadt’s teaching, research, and publishing activities include nuclear science and engineering, applied physics, computer simulation, science policy, and higher education policy. He has served on and chaired numerous National Academy and federal commissions including the National Science Board; the National Academies' Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy; the DOE's Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee; and the NSF’s Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure, and the Intelligence Science Board. He has received numerous awards including the E. O. Lawrence Award for excellence in nuclear research, the Arthur Holly Compton Prize for outstanding teaching, the Reginald Wilson Award for national leadership in achieving diversity, and the National Medal of Technology for exemplary service to the nation. He is currently co-director of the program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy in the Ford School and director of the Millennium Project, a research center exploring the impact of over-the-horizon technologies on society, located in the James and Anne Duderstadt Center on the University's North Campus.

Gudmund Hernes

Professor of Social Science and President International Social Science Council (ISSC)

Gudmund Hernes is a scholar at the Norwegian Institute for Labour and Social Research and a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was the state secretary to the Secretariat for Long-Term Planning 1980-1981, Minister of Education and Research and Ministry of Church and Cultural Affairs (Church Affairs) 1990, Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs 1991-1995 and Minister of Health and Social Affairs (health affairs) 1995-1996 and 1996-1997. Hernes holds a PhD in Sociology from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He became a Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen (Norway) in 1969, where he was also Chairman of the Sociology Department and Director of the University’s Centre for Advanced Training in Social Research. Later he became a Professor at the University of Oslo. He was a fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, Palo Alto, during the 1974-75 semesters, and twice Visiting Professor at Harvard University, in 1986 and in 1990.

Linda Katehi

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chancellor at University of California, Davis

Linda Katehi became the sixth chancellor of the University of California, Davis, on August 17, 2009. As chief executive officer, she oversees all aspects of the university’s teaching, research and public service mission, she also holds UC Davis faculty appointments in electrical and computer engineering and in women and gender studies. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, she chaired the President’s Committee for the National Medal of Science and is chair of the Secretary of Commerce’s committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. She is a fellow and board member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Security Higher Education Board, a member of the Higher Education Business Board and many other national and international boards and committees. Previously, Prof. Katehi served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University; and associate dean for academic affairs and graduate education in the College of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan. Since her early years as a faculty member, Prof. Katehi has focused on expanding research opportunities for undergraduates and improving the education and profes­sional experience of graduate students, with an emphasis on underrepresented groups. She has mentored more than 70 postdoctoral fellows, doctoral and master’s students in electrical and computer engineering. Twenty-one of the 42 doctoral students who graduated under her supervision have become faculty members in research universities in the United States and abroad. Her work in electronic circuit design has led to numerous national and international awards both as a technical leader and educator, 17 U.S. patents, and an additional 5 U.S. patent applications. She is the author or co-author of 10 book chapters and more than 650 refereed publications in journals and symposia proceedings. She earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1977, and her master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from UCLA in 1981 and 84, respectively.

David Naylor

Professor of Medicine and President of the University of Toronto, CA

David Naylor has been President of the University of Toronto since 2005. He earned his MD at Toronto in 1978, followed by a D Phil at Oxford where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Naylor completed clinical specialty training and joined the Department of Medicine of the University of Toronto in 1988. He was founding Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (1991-1998), before becoming Dean of Medicine and Vice Provost for Relations with Health Care Institutions of the University of Toronto (1999 - 2005). Naylor has co-authored approximately 300 scholarly publications, spanning social history, public policy, epidemiology and biostatistics, and health economics, as well as clinical and health services research in most fields of medicine. Among other honours, Naylor is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Foreign Associate Fellow of the US Institute of Medicine, and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Jozef Ritzen

Professor of Economics and President of the Universiteit Maastricht

Before assuming his current position in February 2003, Mr. Ritzen was Vice President of the World Bank’s Development Economics Department. He assumed this position in August 1999. In July 2001 he assumed the position Vice President of the World Bank's Human Development Network, which advises the institution and its client countries on innovative approaches to improving health, education and social protection. Mr. Ritzen joined the Bank as Special Adviser to the Human Development Network in September 1998. Prior to coming to the Bank, he was Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of The Netherlands, 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. Mr. Ritzen has also made significant contributions to agencies such as UNESCO and OECD, especially in the field of education and social cohesion. Prior to his appointment as Minister in 1989, Mr. Ritzen held academic appointments with Nijmegen University and Erasmus University in The Netherlands, and the University of California-Berkeley and the Robert M. LaFollette Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States. Mr. Ritzen obtained a master's degree in physical engineering in 1970 from the University of Technology in Delft, and a PhD in economics in 1977 from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. His dissertation on education, economic growth, and income distribution earned him the Winkler Prins prize.

John Sexton

Professor of law and President of New York University

Born September 29, 1942, John Sexton is the fifteenth President of New York University, having held this position since May 17, 2002, and the Benjamin Butler Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law. From 1988 to 2002, he served as Dean of the NYU School of Law, which during his deanship became one of the top five law schools in the country according to U.S. News and World Report. From January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2007, he was the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; in 2006, he served as chair of the Federal Reserve System's Council of Chairs. Sexton holds a B.A. in history (1963), an M.A. in comparative religion (1965), a Ph.D. in history of American religion (1978) from Fordham University, as well as a J.D. (1979) magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Supreme Court Editor of the Harvard Law Review. In 2008, NYU successfully finished what was then the largest completed fundraising campaign in higher education. The Campaign for NYU, with a stated goal of raising $2.5 billion, ultimately raised over $3 billion. In 2009, NYU’s fundraising continued to exceed $1 million per day in spite of the economic crisis. In October 2007, NYU announced the creation of NYU Abu Dhabi, the first such campus to be operated abroad by a major research university. The school, which the university is referring to as the “world’s honors college”, is recruiting top students and faculty from around the world, and will begin classes in the fall of 2010. During Sexton’s presidency, the percentage of NYU students studying abroad has increased to over 40 percent, and the Institute for International Education recognized NYU as sending more students abroad than any other US university.
Sexton has held a number of leadership positions in major higher education organizations. While Dean of the NYU School of Law, Sexton served as president of the Association of American Law Schools. In 2009, Sexton served as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, vice-chair and chair-designate of the American Council on Education, and chair of the New York Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the board of the Association of American Universities, a member of the board of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and a member of the board of the Institute of International Education. In March 2010, Sexton was named Chair of the American Council on Education.

Lap-Chee Tsui

Professor of Biology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong

Prior to his present appointment in September 2002, Professor Tsui was Geneticist-in-Chief and Head of the Genetics and Genomic Biology Program of the Research Institute, at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Born in Shanghai and awarded his bachelor and master's degrees from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Tsui is a native of Hong Kong. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1979. After a brief training in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he joined the Department of Genetics at The Hospital for Sick Children. He received international acclaim in 1989 when he identified the defective gene that causes cystic fibrosis, which is a major breakthrough in human genetics. He has also made significant contributions to the study of the human genome, especially the characterization of chromosome 7, and, identification of additional disease genes. He has 300 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 65 invited book chapters and papers. Professor Tsui has received numerous awards and honours for his outstanding work over the years. His honours include Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, Fellow of Academia Sinica, Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), and Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition to many national and international prizes, he was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by University of King's College, University of New Brunswick, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, St. Francis Xavier University, York University, Tel Aviv University, University of Toronto, University of Aberdeen and King's College London and University of Edinburgh. He is currently member of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission, Executive Committee of the Commission on Strategic Development and the Advisory Committee on Corruption of the Hong Kong SAR Government. He received the Order of Canada (Officer), the Order of Ontario, Knight of the Légion d'Honneur of France, and the title of Justice of the Peace (HKSAR).

[1] Announcement of International Committee

[2] A Chance for European Universities, Jo Ritzen, Amsterdam University Press, 2010

[3] Joseph Schumpeter Lecture: Appropriate Growth Policy-A Unifying Framework, P. Aghion and P. Howitt, Journal of the European Economic Association, 4, pp. 269-314, 2006

[4] Entrepreneurship, E.P. Lazar, Journal of Labor Economics, 23, pp. 649-680, 2005

[5] OECD (2008a); Education at a Glance – OECD Indicators, Paris OECD Publishing, 2008

[6] University of California System, Senate By-Laws, www.universityofcalifornia.edu