Ruud Lubbers was strongly committed to Tilburg University

After his premiership, Lubbers was a part-time Professor of Globalization from the spring of 1995 to the end of 2000. His interest in environmental and refugee issues was borne out, among other things, by his vice-presidency of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans and the presidency of the World Wildlife Fund. In that period, Lubbers aspired to become President of the European Commission but the German chancellor Helmuth Kohl is said to have opposed his bid. He also missed out on the leadership of NATO. At the end of 2000, Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the UN, asked Lubbers to become the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Which he did.

Bench

Later, Lubbers actively worked for environmental protection, multiculturalism, the reduction of nuclear weapons, and a positive approach to immigrants and refugees. For instance, he was chairman of the board of the Foundation for Refugee Students UAF and chairman of the Rotterdam Climate Initiative. His work at Globus, the Tilburg Institute for Globalization and Sustainable Development, as part of which he co-authored dozens of opinion pieces on the politics of environmental and sustainability issues in national and international media, together with his colleague Professor Paul van Seters.

From 2006 to 2014, he showed his commitment to Tilburg University as chairman of the Board of Governors. When he stepped down in 2014, he was presented with a typically Tilburg benkske (mosaic bench), that still occupies a prominent place on the university campus.

For a detailed biography, we refer to Wikipedia

Lubbers/Van Seters: Accept more refugees

One of the opinion pieces on sustainability and globalization that Ruud Lubbers co-wrote with Professor Paul van Seters in the past few years was about the refugee crisis. In October 2017, they argued in ESB, a professional journal for economists, that the Netherlands should receive many more refugees. Read more (in Dutch).

Koen Becking: "Professor Lubbers in 013 rather than 010"

President of the Tilburg University Executive Board Koen Becking, appointed by Lubbers, wrote in Univers what Lubbers has meant for the university generally and for himself personally: "He really loved our university. As an economist and Rotterdam resident, Ruud Lubbers was nevertheless proud of Tilburg. After his impressive political career, he consciously chose a professorship in 013 (Tilburg) rather than in 010 (Rotterdam). He shared his anecdotes on that choice with man."

Lubbers opens 2014 Academic Year

Professor Bastiaan Zoeteman: "Great man and great statesman"

Ruud Lubbers has met and touched many, many people as few others have done, Professor of Sustainability Policy in International Perspective Bastiaan Zoeteman writes in his In Memoriam. “I would like to call him a great man, and also a great statesman. Not because he was the longest serving prime minister of the Netherlands, but also because he had both the vision and the courage to make inspiring, and sometimes unexpected decisions and to stand by them. He could be very ordinary and unassuming one moment and be the man of the hour on the world stage the next."

From the archive: Interview with Lubbers in Centerpoint (1995)

When he was appointed as Professor of Globalization of Economics and Society in 1995, Ruud Lubbers gave his first interview to Centerpoint, the CentER magazine at the time, at the Tilburg School of Economics and Management. Why had he opted for Tilburg? Which of his three Cabinets was he most proud of? What is the point of economics as a science? An informative blast from the past.­­ (in Dutch, see 4 PDF pages on the Dutch webpage).