In talking with Fokko Jan I could feel the passion and sheer interest he had for learning and education. He had been working with the honours programme in the UT a decade previously. It was evident from this that he was someone with a vision for education, and so, he was asked to join in in a new endeavour of creating a novel form of multi-disciplinary, student-driven education. This became ATLAS and the following year welcomed its first batch of students.
He helped set up the vision and planning before the first class of 2016 had come. In working with the honours programme his love for learning and his interest in a range of topics shone through. What he likes about ATLAS is the interdisciplinarity and integration with teachers. He says it gives the programme a strong sense of community.
As well as being a teacher in ATLAS, he has been a history professor at the University of Amsterdam for 3 years. Even in the classroom, Fokko Jan is not one-dimensional. For example, he teaches Gallileo and Newton to physics students on a Monday morning and then in the evening switches to a more story-like approach in teaching multi-disciplinary students the history of Gallileo’s trial.
Fokko Jan, back from Japan over the summer, is also an avid traveller who says with modest smile, “I’ve made some good travels”. He told me a good story about when his wife and he stepped into a hotel in Aruba and asked for a room for the night. After a confused employee went for advice to their boss and him double-checking again with the couple, it transpired that the place was not in fact a hotel but a brothel! He has also backpacked across Europe, and even gone as far north as Lapland and the Beiring Strait.
Fokko Jan is happy at his current post in Enschede. He has a lot to say about how far the programme has come since the initial “turbulence”, noting that the core vision worked well throughout. “On the one hand it is very experimental, but this trial and error is an evolutionary process.” He likes the interactive relationship teachers have with students, especially evidential from the environment of shared responsibilities created by EduCo, the “heart of ATLAS”.
Fokko Jan strikes me as someone very suited for the ATLAS lifestyle. When asked where he’ll be in three years he said “Ooh that’s a good question. I have never planned or acted strategically. I’ve always done things that are valuable to me”. His history has also been an evolutionary process, taking opportunities as they come. I’m intrigued to find out what the next three years have in store for him!
University College Twente offers a unique bachelor’s programme, Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences, to top students. Visit the University College Twente website for more information about the college and Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences website for more information about the bachelor program. Or visit us during the open day, a student-for-a-day or an insight-day.
