Brinksma Innovation Grant

What is the Brinksma Innovation Grant?

The BIG was established in 2017 in honour of former rector Ed Brinksma. The so-called 'Brinksma Innovation Grant' - in short BIG - is awarded to a staff member with an innovative educational concept. This is the 7th year the award will be presented.

The BIG is an annual grant to an individual (academic) staff member, enabling them to develop and/or test an innovative didactical concept in a University of Twente course or module. As such, the BIG is a reward for staff who continuously improve their teaching.

The grant includes financial compensation of 0.2 FTE of the winner's appointment for one calendar year, to be awarded to the department. In addition, the winner will receive funding of up to 2.5 k for travel and other expenses related to the project and can call on the support of experts from the CELT team. Finally, the winner will receive a small trophy connected to the commencement of the grant.

The winner of the BIG will be announced during Week of Education on 10 June: https://www.utwente.nl/en/learning-teaching/week-of-education/

Ed Brinksma

Prof. Dr. Ed Brinksma was the University of Twente’s rector magnificus from 2008 to 2016. Under his leadership, a number of innovations in the university’s teaching were introduced. Most notable among these is the introduction of TOM, the Twente Education Model for undergraduate programs.

Ed Brinksma is a proponent of Student Driven Learning, an approach in which students are challenged to shape their own educational experience as much as possible.