Faculty Directory
Hans de Wit
Emeritus Professor of the Practice; Distinguished Fellow, Center for International Higher Education
Hans de Wit
Ph.D.
Contact
Email: johannes.dewit@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0003-3437-4345
Education
- Ph.D., University of Amsterdam
- M.A., University of Amsterdam
- B.A., University of Amsterdam
Research Interests
Hans de Wit is a globally recognized scholar in the internationalization of higher education, previously working as professor at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and the Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. His current research: changing paradigmsof internationalization in higher education; the impact of geopolitical developments on higher education; academic publishing; and academic freedom and other values in higher education.
Dr. de Wit is not currently accepting Ph.D. students.
Department
Biography
A globally renowned scholar, Hans de Wit has made his name studying the internationalization of higher education. His current research interestsinclude how to reach global learning for all students, the future of internationalisation post COVID-19, international student recruitment and mobility in non-Anglophone countries.
Hans developed the M.A. in International Higher Education program. He currently co-teaches together with Ellen Hazelkorn in the Ed.D. program a course on Managing Change in Higher Education as well as the Summer Residency program in Ireland. From 2015-2020, de Wit was Director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. He has also served as Director of the Center for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan (Italy), and as Vice-President for International Affairs and Senior Advisor International at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands). De Wit also taught at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
De Wit continues to be a widely sought-after speaker and consultant on internationalization projects around the world, having advised organizations such as the European Commission, UNESCO, the World Bank, IMHE/OECD, IAU, European Parliament and the European Consortium for Accreditation.
De Wit is a Senior Fellow at the International Association of Universities (based at UNESCO). 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. He is also a consulting editor of the journal Policy Reviews in Higher Education. In 2021 he received the Prof. A. Noam Chomsky North Star Life Time Achievement Global Connections Award of StarScholars (Society of Transnational Academic Scholars). He has also received awards for his contribution to the field from EAIE, NAFSA, CIEE, the University of Amsterdam, AMEPI and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan.
De Wit earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Amsterdam.
GLOBAL SPOTLIGHT
- Former Director, Center for International Higher Education (2015-2020)
- Co-Editor journal Policy Reviews in Higher Education
- Founding Editor, Journal of Studes in International Education
- Founding Member and Past-President, European Association for International Education
- New Century Fulbright Scholar
- Senior Fellow, International Association of Universities
Select Publications
- Jones, E. and de Wit, H. (2025). Internationalisation and Europeanisation of Higher Education Beyond EHEA Targets: Inclusion, Transformation,and Social Responsibility. Pp. 11-23. In A. Curaj et al. (eds.), European Higher Education Area 2030: Bridging Realities for Tomorrow's Higher Education, Springer. DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2024.2429828.
- Wang, L., DeLaquil, T., de Wit, H. and Megan Collier, K (2024). The Alternative Education Pathway to Higher Education in non-Anglophone Contexts: Themes and Implications from a Systematic Scoping Review on IBDP. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2024.2429828.
- De Wit, H. and Wang, L. (2024). Lessons from 70 years of regional alignment processes in Europe for international higher education. Journal of International Cooperation in Education. Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 5-19. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICE-09-2023-0023
- De Wit, H. (2024). Everything that quacks is internationalization - critical reflections on the evolution of higher education internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, Volume 28 (I), pp. 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1177/10283153231221655
- Bosio, E. and de Wit, H. (2024). Fostering Service to Society, Inclusion, and Equity through Global Citizenship Education: A Conversation with Hans de Wit. UNESCO Prospects, Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-024-09695-8
- Wang, L., Altbach, P.G. and de Wit, H. (Eds). (2024). International Dimensions and Trends in Higher Education in Troubled Times. Insights from Key Global Publications 2018–2023 in International Higher Education. Book Series Global Perspectives on Higher Education, Volume 55. Brill, Leiden/Boston.
- Hunter, F., Ammigan, R., de Wit, H., Gregersen-Hermans, J., Jones, H. and Murphy, A. (Eds.). 2023. Internationalisation in Higher Education, Responding to New Opportunities and challenges. Ten Years of Research by the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI). EDUCatt, Milan.
- De Wit, H. (2024). Internationalization in and of Higher Education: Critical Reflections on its Conceptual Evolution. Chapter 2 in Engwall, Lars (Eds), Internationalization in Higher Education and Research: Perspectives, Obstacles and Alternatives.Pp. 17-31. Cham: Springer.
- De Wit, H., de Gayardon, A. and Jones, E. (2024). Internationalisation in doctoral education: diversity, trends and challenges for the future. In Jones, E., Norlin, B., Rönnqvist, C. and Sullivan, K. (Eds) Internationalization of the Doctoral Experience: Models, Opportunities and Outcomes. Book Series Internationalization in Higher Education. Routledge, Abingdon/New York.
- Glass, Ch., Blanco, G. and de Wit, H. (2024). Building new opportunities for the internationalization of doctoral education through partnerships and collaboration. In Jones, E., Norlin, B., Rönnqvist, C. and Sullivan, K. (Eds) Internationalization of the Doctoral Experience: Models, Opportunities and Outcomes. Book Series Internationalization in Higher Education. Routledge, Abingdon/New York.
- Huang, Futao; Craciun, Daniela; de Wit, Hans. (2022). Internationalization of Higher Education in a Post-Pandemic World: Challenges and Responses." Co-Editor and Introduction Special Issue, Higher Education Quarterly. doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12392
- De Wit, H., & Jones, E. (2022). A new view of internationalization: From a western, competitive paradigm to a global cooperative strategy. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Leadership Studies, 3(1), 142 -152. doi.org/10.52547/johepal.3.1.142
- Deardorff, D., de Wit, H., Leask, B. and Charles, H. (Eds). (2022). Handbook on International Higher Education, 2nd edition. Stylus.
- de Wit, H., Minaeva, E. and Wang, L. (Eds). (2022). International Student Recruitment in Non-Anglophone Countries. Routledge.
- Leask, B., Torres-Hernandez, A.M., Bustos-Aguirre, M. L. & de Wit, H. (Eds). (2022). Buenas Prácticas Sobre Internacionalización del Currículo en Instituciones de Educación Superior, University of Guadalajara Press.
- Heather Eggins, Anna Smolentseva, and Hans de Wit (Eds.). (2021). The Next Decade: the Challenges to Higher Education. Rotterdam, Brill/Sense Publishers.
- Thondhlana Juliet, Garwe Evelyn C., Hans de Wit, Jocelyne Gacel-Avila, Futao Huang and Wondwosen Tamarat (Eds.). (2021). The Bloomsbury Handbook of the internationalization of higher education in the Global South. Bloomsbury, London/NewYork.
- Hans de Wit and Philip Altbach. (2021). Internationalization in Tertiary Education: Global trends and recommendations post Covid-19. Policy Reviews in Higher Education. Volume 5, Issue 1, 2021, pp. 28-46.
- Jones, E., Leask, B., Brandenburg U. and de Wit, H. (2021). University social responsibility and the internationalisation of higher education for society. Journal of Studies in International Education, Special Issue. https://doi.org/10.1177/10283153211031679
- Maria Yudkevich, Philip G. Altbach, and Hans de Wit (Eds.). (2020). Trends and Issues in Doctoral Education: A Global Perspective. Studies in International Higher Education. New Delhi, Sage Publishers.
- Lisa Unangst, Hakan Ergin, Tessa DeLaquil, Araz Khajarian and Hans de Wit. (2020). Refugees and Higher Education: Transnational Perspectives on Access, Equity, and Higher Education. Rotterdam, Brill/Sense Publishers.
- Anette Wu, Betty Leask, Edward Choi, Lisa Unangst, Hans de Wit. (2020). Internationalization of Medical Education – a Scoping Review of the Current Status in the United States. Medical Science Educator, Springer.
- Adriana Pérez Encinas, Jesús Rodríguez Pomeda and Hans de Wit. (2020). Factors influencing student mobility: a comparative European study. Studies in Higher Education.
- Hans de Wit. (2020). Internationalization in Higher Education: a Western Paradigm or a global, intentional and inclusive concept. International Journal of African Higher Education.
- Hans de Wit. (2020). The future of internationalization of higher education in challenging global contexts. ETD - Educação Temática Digital, UNICAMP, Brazil. Volume 22, no. 3.
- Lisa Unangst and Hans de Wit. (2020). Non-profit organizations, collaborations, and refugee student support in Canada and the United States: a comparative case study. Higher Education Policy, 33 (2), 223-242.
- Philip G. Altbach, Edward Choi, Matthew Allen, and Hans de Wit (Eds.). (2019). The Global Phenomenon of Family-Owned or Managed Universities. Rotterdam, Brill Sense Publishers.
- Kara A. Godwin and Hans de Wit (Eds.). (2019). Intelligent Internationalization: The Shape of Things to Come.Rotterdam, Brill Sense Publishers.
- Hans de Wit, Andrés Bernasconi, Visnja Car, Fiona Hunter, Michael James and Daniela Véliz. (2018). Catholic Universities, Catholic Identity and Internationalization. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers.
- Ayenachew A. Woldegiyorgis, Douglas Proctor and Hans de Wit. (2018) Internationalization of research: Key Considerations and Concerns. In Journal of Studies in International Education, pp. 161-176. Volume 22, Number 02, May 2018.
- Hans de Wit, Laura Rumbley, Fiona Hunter, Edward Choi, and Lisa Unangst. (2018). Editors of the section Higher Education as a Global Reality. Springer. In J. C. Shin, P. Teixeira (eds.), Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
- Hans de Wit. (2018). The Bologna Process and the Wider World of Higher Education: The Cooperation Competition Paradox in a Period of Increased Nationalism. Pp. 15-22. In A. Curaj et al. (eds.), European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies. Springer.
- Knight, J. & de Wit, H. (2018). Internationalization of higher education: Where have we come from and where are we going? In Proctor, D. & Rumbley, L.E. (Eds.). The future agenda for internationalization in higher education: Next generation perspectives into research, policy, and practice. New York and London: Routledge.
- Hans de Wit and Laura Rumbley (2017). Professional Development in International Education. The Example of the Boston College MA in International Higher Education. Internationalisation of Higher Education, A Handbook, DUZ/IAU, issue 3/2017, Pp. 2-14.
- Georgiana Mihut, Philip Altbach and Hans de Wit. (Eds.). 2017. Understanding Global Higher Education: Insights from Key Global Publications. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers.
- Georgiana Mihut, Philip Altbach and Hans de Wit (Eds.). 2017. Internationalization of Higher Education: Insights from Key Global Publications. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers.
- Philip Altbach, Liz Reisberg and Hans de Wit (Eds.). 2017. Responding to massification: differentiation in postsecondary education worldwide. Rotterdam, Sense Publishers.
- Hans de Wit, Jocelyne Gacel-Avila, Elspeth Jones and Nico Jooste (Eds.). 2017. The Globalization of Internationalization: Emerging Voices and Perspectives. Internationalization in Higher Education Series, Routledge.
- Elspeth Jones, Jos Beelen, Robert Coelen & Hans de Wit (Editors). 2016. Local and Global Internationalisation. Sense Publishers, Dordrecht.
- Fiona Hunter and Hans de Wit. (2016). The European Landscape: A Shifting Perspective. Internationalisation of Higher Education, A Handbook, Issue 2, 2016. Pp. 49-68. IAU DUZ.
- Maarja Beerkens, Jeroen Huisman, Manuel Souto-Otero, Hans de Wit. (2016). Differences in ERASMUS participation: Exploring the role of barriers and motivations in six countries. Journal of Studies in International Education, May 2016 vol. 20 no. 2, pp. 184-204.
- Hans de Wit, Fiona Hunter, Eva Egron-Polak and Laura Howard (Eds.). 2015. Internationalisation of Higher Education. A study for the European Parliament, Brussels.