The latest group of students from the University Innovation Fellows program has been installed this week. Anil Özen (student Creative Technology), Anja Dömer (International Business Administration) and Hiz Salim (Biomedical Engineering) form the fifth group of the UIF programme at the University of Twente. In the coming year, they will look at ideas to further strengthen the innovative entrepreneurial climate at and around the university.
Action plan
Each new group of students draws up an action plan, indicating in which areas they see opportunities for innovation. The new group has built its plan around three spearheads:
- Increasing the possibilities of easily and accessibly involve other disciplines within the educational programme and being able to acquire knowledge quickly;
- Increasing the range of training courses and programmes for both UT students and external students.
- More attention to innovation and entrepreneurship in the regular educational programme.
In the coming period, they will further explore how these plans and ideas can be given a place. They work closely with the university, but also with e.g. Novel-T, student associations and student teams.
Critical fresh look
Rector Magnificus Thom Palstra about the initiative: “Students look at their study environment in their own unique way; they are critical and have strong ideas about how they think we can strengthen the focus on innovation and entrepreneurship within education. We work closely together on how their ideas and thoughts can bring improvements. We have recently performed the University Innovation Fellows research on how to retain talent for Twente. This has provided valuable insights, not only for us but also for our partners.”
About University Innovation Fellows
Since 2016, the University of Twente has been participating in UIF, an initiative of Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (D-school), as the first European participant in the programme. Several European universities are now partners in the programme.