Jozef Marie Mathias "Jo" Ritzen was born on 3 October 1945 and is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party and economist.
14 Facts About Jo Ritzen
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Jo Ritzen worked as researcher at the Delft Institute of Technology from July 1969 until June 1972 and at the Erasmus University Rotterdam from June 1972 until July 1976.
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Jo Ritzen worked as a civil engineering consultant in Bangladesh from August 1976 until April 1978 and as a visiting professor of Education economics at the University of California, Berkeley from September 1978 until May 1979.
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Jo Ritzen worked as an associate professor of Public economics at the Radboud University Nijmegen from May 1978 until January 1981 and a professor of Education economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam from January 1981 until September 1982.
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Jo Ritzen worked as a political consultant for the Labour Party from September 1982 until November 1989 and as science advisor for the Leader of the Labour Party and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives Joop den Uyl from September 1982 until July 1986.
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In January 1994 Jo Ritzen announced that he would not stand for the election of 1994.
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Kok subsequently approached Jo Ritzen to continued in the post as the newly renamed Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Cabinet Kok I, taking office on 22 August 1994.
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In December 1997 Jo Ritzen announced his retirement from national politics and that he wouldn't stand for the election of 1998, the Cabinet Kok I was replaced by the Cabinet Kok II on 3 August 1998.
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Jo Ritzen received his PhD degree in 1976 from the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam with the thesis "Education, economic growth, and income inequality metrics".
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Jo Ritzen contributed greatly to the reformation of the governance of Higher Education.
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Jo Ritzen was the longest-serving Minister of Education in the EU and one of longest serving in the world.
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Jo Ritzen left the World Bank to become president of Maastricht University in February 2003 until February 2011.
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Jo Ritzen served on the Supervisory Board of Educational Testing Service from 2002 to 2014 and to several Dutch firms from 1981 to 1989.
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Jo Ritzen is the President of the Conflict and Education Learning Laboratory, a non-profit foundation, registered in the Netherlands, which is dedicated to working for an international agreement to reduce divisive stereotypes in school textbooks.