Education is not, nor should it wish to be, immune to globalization. Instead, education should show positive, life-changing, even world-changing, leadership.

Maurits van Rooijen FRSA (born 1956) is a Dutch socio-economic historian and geographer. His research has concentrated on green urbanization and re-interpreting garden city principles. In recent publications, he has promoted the concept of the “Global Knowledge City,” arguing that in “the 21st century, besides the need to blend urbanization with agriculture and manufacturing (the original garden city mission), global knowledge innovation should be at the core of sustainable urbanization.

In 2013 he was awarded the prize for EAIE Constance Meldrum Award for Vision & Leadership. Since 2012, he has been the CEO & Rector of the London School of Business and Finance (LSBF).

Early years

Born in Breda, Netherlands in 1956, Maurits van Rooijen attended the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe lyceum [4](gymnasium beta)[failed verification] and studied at Utrecht University.[citation needed] In parallel to his postgraduate in Social and Economic History degree, he also did the postgraduate programme in Sociology for Built Environment. He was lecturer/researcher at his alma mater in Urban Studies and obtained his doctorate in Geography for research about the roots and prospects of green urbanisation, on which he wrote various publications. He taught by invitation for extended periods at several universities worldwide, such as University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, University of Hull, University College London, Bergen University Norway, Leibniz University Hannover, Vienna University of Technology, and has held professorships at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Beijing Union University, Victoria University, Australia, Nyenrode Business University.