These former students will serve on the new Cabinet

Four former Erasmus University students have been nominated for a position on the fourth government to be led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Carola Schouten (CU), Mark Harbers (VVD) and Micky Adriaansens (VVD) will serve as ministers, while Alexandra van Huffelen (D66) will serve as a state secretary.

Carola Schouten, who represents the ChristenUnie (‘Christian Union’), will serve as the Minister for Anti-Poverty Policy, Labour Market Participation and Pensions. In the previous government she was the Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Schouten studied Business Administration at Erasmus University between 1995 and 2006. While attending EUR, she was active in VGSR, a student society for Protestant students. She lives in Rotterdam.

Hermes House Band

VVD representative Micky Adriaansens will be the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. She currently serves on the Senate and is the Managing Director of the TwynstraGudde consulting firm. She attended Erasmus University between 1983 and 1991, studying Law and Policy and Healthcare Management. As a student, she was a singer for the Hermes House Band, the band founded by the Rotterdamsch Studenten Corps.

Another VVD representative, Mark Harbers, will return to the Cabinet as the Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management. He studied Economics at Erasmus University, although he did not complete his degree programme. He served on the Rotterdam municipal council, and was Alderman Economics, Port and Environment.

D66’s Alexandra van Huffelen studied here as well. She studied Public Administration at Leiden University and Erasmus University. Like Harbers, she served in local politics in Rotterdam, as Alderman Sustainability, City Centre and Outdoor Space between 2010 and 2014. Van Huffelen will be the State Secretary for Kingdom Relations and Digitalisation.

EMC Chair to serve as minister

On behalf of D66, Ernst Kuipers, the Chairman of the Board of the Erasmus MC, will serve as the Minister for Public Health, Welfare and Sport. He studied Medicine at Groningen University. In 2000 he was appointed Professor of Gastroenterology in Rotterdam. He specialises in stomach and colorectal cancer, and in his capacity as the Chairman of the National Acute Care Network, he became one of the faces of the Dutch approach to the coronavirus pandemic.

Scientist to lead Ministry of Education

The new Minister for Education, Culture and Science will be D66 representative Robbert Dijkgraaf. Dijkgraaf is a professor at the University of Amsterdam, as well as the Director of Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study. In 2003 he was awarded the Spinoza Prize, the most prestigious award presented in Dutch academia. Dijkgraaf also served as the Chairman of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences between 2008 and 2012.