60 years of ITC

In 2010 the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, better known as the ITC, became the sixth faculty of the University of Twente. The ITC was founded by the Dutch government in 1950 in order to alleviate the scarcity of competent aerial survey personnel in the developing world. The institute was born out of the UN conviction that aerial survey was the solution for the sad state of mapping in the developing world. This book recounts the ITC's first sixty years as a Dutch institute for international education.

Willem Schermerhorn, civil engineer, prestigious photogrammetrist and ex-premier, was instrumental in founding the new institute and guiding it through its first years. He instilled a deep commitment to international cooperation and mutual respect. Nonetheless, the ITC was destined for a stormy future. It changed its name three times and had to face dramatic transformations in basic earth observation technologies, in development policies, and in the positioning of international education in the world of Dutch higher education. It is a tribute to the resilience and resourcefulness of ITC staff and rectors that the institute was able to seize the opportunities that came its way and to continually reinvent itself in the face of adversity.