ITC embedded as the University of Twente's sixth faculty

15 December 2009 

As of 1 January 2010, the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) is to become the sixth faculty at the University of Twente (UT). Both parties see great advantages in the integration, both at national and international level. As a result of the integration, ITC will be more firmly embedded in the Dutch academic education system, while the UT expects to be able to profit from ITC’s international network.

The collaboration ­− some elements of which are already up and running ­− will undoubtedly lead to innovative research and education in areas such as energy, environment, climate change, water, geo-information & earth observation and disaster management.

The ITC was founded 59 years ago by Willem Schermerhorn, the first Prime Minister of the Netherlands after World War II, and is mainly geared towards developing countries. Most of its students come from these countries, and in many cases they already have jobs there and are completing their studies in the Netherlands. As its educational programme differs somewhat from that of the other faculties at the UT, the ITC will have the unique status of faculty sui generis ("in a class of its own"). 

The ITC - the abbreviation stems from its original name, "International Training Centre" - is located in large premises on Hengelosestraat in Enschede. It has approximately 240 members of staff and every year some 1,700 students participate in its programmes (around 600 in the regular degree programmes and 120 in the PhD programme).