Faculty Directory

A globally renowned scholar, Hans de Wit has made his name studying the internationalization of higher education. His research focuses on national and institutional policies, internationalization strategies, misconceptions, and differentiators in postsecondary education around the world.  

Before joining the Lynch School as a professor and Director of the Center for International Higher Education, de Wit was Director of the Center for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, and taught at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He served as founding member and president of the European Association for International Education and as founding editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education.

De Wit earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the University of Amsterdam. He has won awards from the Association of International Educators and the European Association for International Education, was named a Fulbright New Century Scholar, has coauthored and edited several publications on the internationalization of higher education, and has consulted for a variety of international organizations, including the European Parliament and the World Bank.

De Wit was instrumental in launching the Lynch School’s Master of Arts in International Higher Education program in 2016, the Certificate Program in International Higher Education, 2017, and the dual Degree MA in International Higher Education with the Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. When not guiding students through their own educational journeys, he is focusing on a study of identity and internationalization at Catholic universities, global doctoral education, refugees and higher education, and family-owned universities.

He serves as Editorial Consultant of Policy Reviews in Higher Education and was in 2017 member of the Steering Group and Editorial Committee of the Bologna Process Researchers Conference. He is member of international advisory boards of several universities: Stenden University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands, the University of Göttingen in Germany, the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) in Moscow, Russia, and the Universidad Cooperative de Colombia in Medellin. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of World Education Services, New York as well as a member of the Scientific Committee of the ‘Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation’ (CHEI) in Milan, UNESP’s PrInt Project Management Group in Brazil, the Student Advisory Board of the Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico, and of the Consejo Consultativo Internacional of USMEXFusion. He is an Associate of Higher Education Training and Development (HETD), Kwazulu Natal University, Durban, South Africa. And he is a 2018 Courtesy Faculty member of the School of Education of Oregon State University, USA.