New organisation for Health domain

With effect from the new academic year, Katja Haijkens, Govert Verhoog and Heleen Miedema were appointed as programme directors for the Bachelor’s and Master’s educational programmes in Biomedical Technology/Biomedical Engineering, Health Sciences and Technical Medicine respectively. Heleen Miedema is also responsible for the new Life Long Learning programme. In addition, as Director of Education, she is a member of the Technical Medical (TechMed) Centre’s management team. “The members of the Management Team are delighted with these appointments”, says Managing Director Remke Burie. “They will enable us to respond even more effectively to the developments that we are anticipating in the upcoming years.”

Growth

This organisational change was necessitated by the growth of the Health domain at the University of Twente. “That growth has created a need for more specialisation and leadership. We wanted a flexible and effective organisation”, says Mr Burie. Katja Haijkens adds, “The arrival of the new Technohal, coupled with the commitment to postgraduate education, will give education at Health an added boost. That calls for a new structure, in which each educational programme has its own director.”

 

The new organisation is in keeping with the TechMed Centre’s educational vision, which involves a heavy focus on personalised learning and on training professionals for the rapidly evolving world of professional practice. “The structure is in line with the organisational structure of the faculties. We operate as a network. Everyone has their own personal contacts, but by pooling these resources we can really inspire one another. In this way, education also fulfils an important unifying role between different disciplines, which – in turn – generates new cooperative ventures”, says Verhoog.

 

About the programme directors

The three programme directors have all been at the University of Twente for some considerable time. Dr Miedema started work at the university in 1992, as a researcher. In 1999, as a policy officer for the Executive Board, she designed the Biomedical Technology programme. A little later, with Miedema at the helm, the Health Sciences programme came into being. Finally, she developed the Technical Medicine programme. Miedema is now Programme Director for that educational programme, as well as Director of Education in the TechMed Centre’s management team.

Ms Haijkens has worked at the University of Twente since 2006, first as an educational advisor and, since 2012, as Programme Manager for the Biomedical Technology educational programme. She is now Programme Director for that particular programme.

Govert Verhoog joined the University of Twente in 2016, as Programme Manager for the Health Sciences programme. Before that, he was team leader of the Physiotherapy educational programme at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences. He is now Programme Director for Health Sciences.

Technical Medical Centre

The TechMed Centre is a leading innovation hub. The TechMed Centre contributes to improving healthcare through personalised technology using a combination of excellent research and education, and state-of-the-art facilities. The TechMed Centre brings professionals together and encourages multidisciplinary cooperation. The new TechMed Centre location – the Technohal – will open this year, on 29 November. The new building will house education and research facilities and the simulation centre all under one roof, which will make the TechMed Centre unique in the world.