Hilligje van’t Land, PhD.
Secretary General and Executive Director
Dr. Hilligje van’t Land serves the global higher education community as Secretary General of the International Association of Universities (IAU) - a global NGO with UNESCO Associate Status. For the past two decades, she has fostered the key role of higher education in societal transformation. She supervises the overall programme activities at the IAU, develops the Association’s strategic plans and oversees the everyday work of the secretariat. She positioned the IAU as a UNESCO partner in work on Education for Sustainable Development and the Futures of Education Initiative, and is an advocate for higher education as a key stakeholder for the UN Agenda 2030 – Transforming our World. Hilligje van’t Land strongly believes in the importance of international cooperation and intercultural understanding and has developed multilateral projects supporting this vision.
Dr. van’t Land represents the IAU in various working groups and expert committees such as the Council of Europe, UNESCO, and the UN as member of the High Level Advisory Board to the UNESCO Futures of Education Initiative and Mission 4.7; the UNESCO ESD for 2030 Programme; the UNESCO and Bergen Expert Group on Universities and Sustainability; the Council of Europe (CoE) Ad hoc Working Group on the Local Mission of the University; the CoE Steering Committee for Best Practice Programme in Promoting Academic Integrity; the CoE Ad hoc Working Group on Competences for a Democratic Culture; the Advisory Board of UVED, OneHE and Sulitest; the Advisory Board of the Observatory of Academic Freedom (GOAF - Soros Foundation).
Hilligje van’t Land published on higher education issues of relevance locally and globally. Recent publications as author, editor or co-editor include: The Promise of Higher Education and Higher Education’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Building a More Sustainable and Democratic Future, a book coedited by IAU, the Council of Europe and others published as part of the Council of European Higher Education book series. Other recent publications of note include: Higher Education and SDG 14: Integrating Ocean Research for the Global Goals, 2021; IAU-UNODC Young Scholars Competition: Higher Education engages with SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions; IAU HESD Global Survey (2023).
Dr. van’t Land holds a PhD in comparative francophone literature, held T&L and Research positions at University of Groningen, the Netherlands, Université Laval, Québec – Canada, and Université d’Avignon et des Pays du Vaucluse, France; she speaks six languages.