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The United Nations University (UNU) is the academic arm of the United Nations (UN). It bridges the academic world and the UN system. Its goal is to develop sustainable solutions for current and future problems of humankind in all aspects of life. Through a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approach it aims at applied research and education on a global scale. UNU was founded in 1973 and is an autonomous organ of the UN General Assembly. The University comprises headquarters Tokyo, Japan, and more than a dozen Institutes and Programmes worldwide.

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Prof. Osterwalder of Switzerland Next Rector of United Nations University

UN Secretary-General appoints Prof. Konrad Osterwalder of Switzerland as Rector of United Nations University. Following consultations with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura, and with his concurrence, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Professor Konrad Osterwalder of Switzerland as the next Rector of United Nations University.

Professor Osterwalder will be the fifth Rector of United Nations University. He is expected to assume his position at the University’s headquarters in Tokyo on 1 September 2007. The decision to appoint Prof. Osterwalder was taken after an extensive international search process. Prof. Osterwalder will succeed Prof. Hans van Ginkel, a geographer from the Netherlands, who has served as UNU Rector since 1997.

Prof. Osterwalder, a Swiss physicist, is the current Rector, as well as President ad interim, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. He earned his doctorate in theoretical physics at ETH in 1970. He has held positions at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, Harvard University and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has been a visiting fellow at a number of universities and research institutes around the world. Prof. Osterwalder was appointed as a full professor at ETH Zurich in 1977.

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