Linda Beijlsmit, Director, Bureau CROSS

Linda Beijlsmit, child of a Dutch father and an English mother, was born in the Netherlands in 1953. She studied Slavonic languages at Leiden University, majoring in Russian language and literature. Later on she gained a Master's degree in Central and Eastern European Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

She has been involved in educational reform since 1993, when she joined Bureau CROSS, then an agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands, initially responsible for co-operation in education with Central and Eastern Europe. She took over as Director in 2003. CROSS is now part of EVD International Business and Cooperation, an agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. CROSS works for a variety of Dutch ministries, such as the ministries of Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Development Aid and Education.

Linda Beijlsmit has been involved in the development of all types of programmes related to education and training. For example, in 1999 she developed a large training programme for the ministry of Foreign Affairs to help civil servants from the now former candidate countries of the European Union prepare themselves for Accession and assist them in implementing the Acquis Communautaire. Most recently she has developed a programme for the ministry of Economic Affairs which aims at the internationalisation of VET, strengthening ties between business and education. She is also responsible for management training and internships for managers from a.o. Russia and South Africa. She has been involved in the organisation of a number of high level meetings on education a.o. under the Dutch Presidency in 1997, when a meeting of ministers of Education from EU and candidate-EU countries took place in Warsaw. In 2001 she was member of the OECD team that was involved in the Thematic review of Education in South East Europe.