Frans van Vught

Subsequently he held a postdoc position in urban studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1982 he obtained his PhD in Public Administration from the University of Twente with the thesis entitled "Experimentele beleidsplanning : bestuurskundige expedities in de jungle van het planningsdenken" (Experimental planning: public administration expeditions in the jungle of the planning thought).

From 1997 to 2005 he was rector and president of the University of Twente, and since 2005 he is Honorary professor of Higher Education Policy.

In 1999 Van Vught was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ghent for his great merit for science policy and administration, and in 2007 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for his influential publications and higher education research.

Here he developed a fundamentally-epistemological analysis of the possibilities and limitations of foresight, which has had great influence on the future-oriented thinking in policy and management processes.