مايابلانيت

Prof. Hans J. A. van Ginkel was born in Kota-Radjah (Bandar Acheh, Indonesia) on June 22, 1940. In l966, he completed his M.Sc. studies at Utrecht University in human and physical geography, anthropology and history, cum laude. From 1965 to 1968, he was a teacher of geography and history at the Thomas à Kempis College, Arnhem. 

Having a strong interest in internationalization, Hans van Ginkel has contributed to numerous international organizations, for example, the governing board of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation at Enschedé (President 1990-1998), the Board of the European Association of Universities (CRE, Vice-president 1994-1998), and the Board of the International Association of Universities (IAU, Vice-president, 1995-2000, President, 2000-2004). He was the Treasurer of the Netherlands Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC) from 1986-1997. He also extended the cooperative links of Utrecht University towards Latin America (in particular, Costa Rica and Bolivia), Southern Africa and South-East Asia.

In 1992, he was appointed to the Social Sciences Council of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Prof. van Ginkel also served as a member and Vice-chair of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Institute of Technology, AIT, Bangkok, as well as a member of the Governing Board of UNESCO-IHE in Delft and of the International Advisory Board of the Institute for Social Sciences (ISS), The Hague.