From 1 January, Prof. Han van Krieken, Rector Magnificus of Radboud University in Nijmegen, will have a seat on the Board of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU). He will succeed Arthur Mol, Rector Magnificus of Wageningen University, whose term as Board member comes to an end on that date.

As Rector, Van Krieken has in recent years committed himself to issues such as student well-being, based on the survey of student well-being that was arranged at the behest of the student participatory bodies well before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration is another topic that is close to his heart. He is additionally interested in promoting regional cooperation – for instance, he recently signed an agreement with Maastricht University aimed at intensifying cooperation with regard to education and research.

At the national level, Van Krieken is a frequent commentator on matters of educational quality, with a specific focus on the current social discourse surrounding the teacher shortage and, by extension, the teacher training programmes. He is the lead adviser for the VSNU's action plan for lecturers, which seeks to address the qualitative and quantitative teacher shortage in primary and secondary education.
Han van Krieken has served as Rector Magnificus of Radboud University since 19 May 2016; he is Chairman of the Board of Deans and, as a professor, is affiliated with the Faculty of Medical Sciences (Radboudumc). Van Krieken (1956) is a pathologist who specialises in diseases of the digestive tract and in blood disorders, particularly lymphoma. His research has led to improved cancer diagnostics and new insights into the metastatic process. The full details of Van Krieken's extensive CV can be found on the Radboud University website.