Broaden and excelOpening of Academic Year marked by new choices12 September 2012 |
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The new ATLAS, the first University College for technical talent, is a wonderful example, says Cees Veerman. The former government minister and chairman of the Veerman Commission on Higher Education had previously called for clearer choices and profiling in higher education. Investing in education pays off, but investments cannot come solely from the government, according to Veerman. Slicing away, layer by layer In his opening speech, Executive Board Chairman Anne Flierman emphasized once again that higher education in the Netherlands is facing turbulent times. “Despite the worthwhile examples that may be mentioned, we don’t seem to be able to stop fretting in this country. We launch all manner of trials and pilots, but those experiments are then abandoned. Looking at research, we still see a deficit due to the loss of the revenues from the country’s natural gas reserves, the FES funds. If we look at education, then we must recognize a trend of creeping austerity. Funding is being perfidiously sliced away, layer by layer.” The figures for the Twente region do not look half bad, says Flierman. New student enrolment is on par with previous years, and there are 70 new spin-off companies that are good for 500 new jobs. Party chairmen Diederik Samsom (Labour PvdA) and Mark Rutte (Liberals VVD) recently referred to these statistics during their visit to Tubantia, the regional newspaper. In the coming academic year, the university will be working hard on preparations for the new model for the Bachelor’s programmes and also for the ATLAS University College, a broad programme for technical talent. “A clear sign of the strength of high tech here in Twente”, said Flierman. Noblesse oblige Former minister and current professor Cees Veerman also considers the broadening of the Bachelor’s programmes in combination with the excellence of ATLAS to be a ‘splendid’ development. In his speech he wonders whether investment in higher education pays off: why, where, and for whom? He is very worried that we are withdrawing into the relative safety of our ivory towers, while the big world outside continues to become more and more complex. This is no way to face up to the challenges at hand, he says. The government should be willing to make long-term investments in education. “The Netherlands is barely managing to hang on to its top-five position in innovation, and our politicians are strutting about like proud peacocks, claiming that the ‘top sector’ policy is working, even though the policy hasn’t even been implemented. It should be obvious that we are currently benefiting from past investment using FES funds.” Veerman believes that corporations should also be expected to invest. And the institutions themselves, which do manage to deliver a basic level of quality but still too little excellence, should also not be immune to investment. Finally, he appeals to the student, who is in a privileged position: “Please understand: those who know more, reap greater rewards.” Prizes University Rector Ed Brinksma then had the honour of awarding prizes of 1,000 euros to six outstanding graduates, further underscoring the importance of excellence. The winners were Wendy Vos (Behavioural Sciences), Alan Rex (ITC), Robert ten Brincke (Management and Governance), Roeland van der Veen (Science and Technology), Arvid Keemink (EEMCS) and Joris Oosterhuis (Engineering Technology). The ceremony was accompanied by videos in which the winners introduced themselves and said something about their work. Weird guy Finally, Brinksma presented the Central Teaching Award of 2,500 euros to Johnny Søraker, lecturer in the philosophy of technology and computer ethics. This lecturer, originally from Norway, is able to captivate his students with examples from Second Life, games and podcasts. A bit of a ‘weird guy’, who just might be the ideal lecturer of the future, according to Brinksma. Because, says Brinksma as he concludes the ceremony, there is a revolution going that we still know very little about. “A UT student told me recently that he took a course on Artificial Intelligence from Stanford - all on his own initiative - and that he’d received a certificate. He did it all online. You just can’t ignore developments like these.” He then officially opened the 2012-2013 Academic Year.
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