Jo van Ham and Marc Vermeulen joined our board24/05/2022
The Committee of Ministers has appointed two new board members for the board of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in The Hague, upon the recommendation of Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education, Culture and Science. Jo van Ham and Marc Vermeulen joined the board since 1 May.
Jo van Ham has a long career within higher education. At the beginning of 2019, he stepped down from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) after more than ten years as vice-chairman. During this period, he put the TU/e on the right track. He invested heavily in the construction of new buildings, which among other things housed laboratories and lecture rooms, and the number of students increased by more than 5,000 to a total of over 12,000. In addition to his role as board member of NVAO, Jo van Ham is also a member of the supervisory board of Brainport Development NV in Eindhoven.
Marc Vermeulen is also a well-known figure in higher education. At TIAS Business School in Tilburg, he is the academic director of the Strategy, Innovation and Governance course for top public managers and also gives college lectures. In addition to these roles, Marc Vermeulen is also active as chairman of the Zuidelijke Rekenkamer, member of the commissie macrodoelmatigheid middelbaar beroepsonderwijs (CMMBO) and member of the supervisory board of Hogeschool Utrecht.
Sander van den Eijnden, chairman: "The NVAO is very pleased with the addition of Jo van Ham and Marc Vermeulen to the board. They have a long track record in higher education and with their knowledge and expertise they can be of great value to our organisation. In the coming years, there will be plenty of challenges on the management level where they can contribute. Think, for example, of cases such as institutional accreditation, language accessibility and higher education after all the corona measures."
The NVAO in The Hague was founded in 2005 as an independent and binational accreditation organisation by the Treaty between the Netherlands and Flanders and guarantees the quality of higher education in both regions. The Dutch and Flemish board members of NVAO are appointed by the Committee of Ministers for a period of four years. They are experts in the field of higher education, professional practice in higher education, scientific research or quality assurance. The NVAO's board focuses on the organisation's strategic policy. Day-to-day management has been delegated to the executive board and, for the Netherlands, also to the NVAO Netherlands director.