Peter Birdsall is President of the Board of Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in Apeldoorn. Wittenborg is a business school, with around 1500 students (2023) and 200+ employed and affiliated staff in 2023, totally representing more than 120 nationalities. Wittenborg's growth is currently around 10% per year and it is one of the most international privately funded higher education institutes in the Netherlands, aiming to become a top ranking university of applied sciences in the field of international management and sustainable business development.
Wittenborg has developed into a so-called ‘boutique’ university; that is to say, a university that maintains a constant student body of around 1,500 high-quality students, and maintains a national degree-awarding power and can develop and sustain multiple accreditations, staff development, an applied sciences research profile, and an international profile. Wittenborg’s goal is to develop into a broad business and management-orientated university of applied sciences in various professional fields, such as Business & Entrepreneurship, Hospitality & Tourism, Arts & Technology, Health & Social Care, and Education. Currently Wittenborg is also developing a focus on so-called 'tech' specialisations in its MBA and MSc programmes, including engineering.
Together with his wife, Maggie Feng, Wittenborg's CEO, Peter has embarked upon a journey of continuous development & improvement for the university, steering it towards a path of responsible management & social responsibility both locally and nationally. With a commitment to life-long learning, sustainable management, diversity, internationalisation & ethical practice, Peter continues to invest in Wittenborg's future.
Peter’s career started at the age of 16 when he started a Theatre Company, & has seen him involved in concerns that have activities such as running a bar, a restaurant, a cleaning company, importing furniture, China consultancy, website design, as well as various consulting and training initiatives.
Peter has also (once) been 'properly' employed, at a state University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands - between 1996 and 2002, with an aim to bring international education to the institute, which succeeded, but also sowed the seeds for the Wittenborg (ad)venture. : -)