Maurits van Rooijen

Early years

Born in Breda, Netherlands in 1956, Maurits van Rooijen attended the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe lyceum (gymnasium beta) and studied at Utrecht University. In parallel to his postgraduate in Social and Economic History degree, he also did the postgraduate programme in Sociology for Built Environment. He was lecturer/researcher at his alma mater in Urban Studies and obtained his doctorate in Geography for research about the roots and prospects of green urbanisation, on which he wrote various publications. He taught by invitation for extended periods at several universities worldwide, such as University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, University of Hull, University College London, Bergen University Norway, University of Hanover Germany, Vienna University of Technology Austria, and has held professorships at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Union University, Victoria University, Australia, Nyenrode Business University.

Past positions

After working at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in various senior administrative roles (1987-1993), van Rooijen moved to the University of Westminster, London. From 1993-2009, whilst at the University of Westminster, Van Rooijen drove the institution to become one of highest earners in the UK for international income. During his 16 years at the institution, University of Westminster received the Queen's Awards for Enterprise for two consecutive periods; in 2000, for achievements in international education, and in 2005, for innovative ventures such as the opening of the Westminster International University in Tashkent, in Uzbekistan.

In 2009 Maurits van Rooijen took up the position of Rector Magnificus and CEO of Nyenrode Business University. Working closely with the Nyenrodian community of alumni and corporate partners he was able to effectively address the university's financial and academic challenges. He also acquired for the university an undergraduate entrepreneurship college, the New Business School, now Nyenrode New Business School, in Amsterdam.

Van Rooijen also initiated at Westminster a very substantial scholarship programme to internationalise the historical access mission of the university. For this it received the inaugural T.H.E.S. award for international student services.

Current positions

Since October 2012, Van Rooijen has been Rector and CEO of the London School of Business and Finance(LSBF), a private business school based in London, United Kingdom with two campuses in the centr of the city. In addition the school has campuses in the British cities of Manchester and Birmingham, as well as Toronto, Canada and Singapore. LSBF's teaching and education philosophy is based on offering students the opportunity to pursue both an academic degree and a professional qualification simultaneously. He was appointed to expand innovation of all schools belonging to the LSBF Group. Including London College of Contemporary Arts(LCCA), St. Patrick’s College, Finance Business Training (FBT), School of Fashion and Design London (SFD), LSBF School of English and London School of Business and Finance. Since 2013 he has been Global University Systems (GUS) CEO (Academic), Acting Rector of GISMA in Hannover and also remains as CEO & Rector of London School of Business & Finance.

International organisations

Van Rooijen has held a considerable number of leading roles in international organisations. From 2009-2012 he was chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean University of Slovenia, an initiative of the European Parliament, with headquarters in Slovenia. Since 2008 he has been president of the Compostela Group of Universities, with its seat in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, one of the largest university consortia in the world. Also, since 2008, he is co-chairman of the World Association for Cooperative Education, a Boston-based organization dedicated to promoting work-integrated and experiential learning. He has been vice-president of the European Access Network (London), an organization encouraging access to higher education for underrepresented groups, for over 15 years. He is a member of various advisory bodies and think-tanks in the field of higher education across the globe. He is an associate of Global Higher Education Consultants and over the years has done extensive consultancy work for governments, universities and in the for-profit sector.

Queen's Award

van Rooijen was instrumental and part of the team that secured the 2013 Queen's Award for Enterprise that was presented to Aaron Etingen on behalf of LSBF by Her Majesty the Queen

Publications

In addition to his academic and professional work, Maurits van Rooijen has been a prolific writer and contributor in the field of public history. He wrote ten books in assignment for Shell Journaal, (1984-1993) a yearly published booklet produced by Royal Dutch Shell, four books on local history of Breda, and various other popular publications.

Sustainable urbanisation

Public and applied history

Innovation and internationalisation of higher education