Mélanie, a first-year ATLAS student, has joined the University Innovation Fellows, allowing her to interact with students in America, Australia, and India, as well as visiting Silicon Valley.
Mélanie comes from a multicultural background. Having lived in England, Russia, Germany, and America, she has gotten used to adapting to new situations quickly. She had also found she just did not enjoy exams, regardless of her performance. Project-work was always where she thrived, which is part of what led her here: “ATLAS kind of allows you to not worry too much about the exam aspect and just focus on the project, and what I really love in ATLAS is just working on the project, I feel like I learn the most from that.” It is also one of the reasons why she said yes when she was asked to join the University Innovation Fellows (UIF).
Mélanie, first-year ATLAS student and member of the University Innovation Fellows
This Fellowship was founded by the Stanford University design school, with the philosophy that those within the system know how to change it, and that universities would need to change to provide a relevant skill set for their future alumni. Specifically, they want to promote innovativeness and entrepreneurialism. Once recruited, fellows study their university environment, train and discuss with other fellows from around the world, and try to make connections across their university. This is all in pursuit of creating some change, like starting an innovation space (like the DesignLab), or building a network such that the various bodies across the university can communicate and collaborate in better ways. It’s about “trying to get the design thinking aspect, trying to get students to be more than just puppies following their course, not actually thinking about what they're learning, it's them taking their own initiative to do something outside their course, to do a bit more than what the university provides.” For a more in-depth look at their principles, check their article on student-driven university change.
Additionally, this whole project has involved working with a group of students from across the UT, both undergrads and masters students, from different studies. This opportunity appealed to Mélanie: “It is something you will have to get used to later, wherever you work and interdisciplinary team members challenge each other to achieve the best results. It also provides an ideal learning experience learning from those with different expertise and understanding how they tackle a problem from a different angle.”
At first she was afraid she would be unable to contribute, but that fear dissipated quickly: “It's difficult, I at the start was very nervous because at ATLAS we don't have a specialization, and they're all quite advanced at where they are... it was very scary coming in as a student six months in. I'm not sure if this was solely because of my English but also because of the mindset we have at ATLAS, being go-getters, thinking about things in a different way, and piecing different aspects together, I actually took the lead quite a lot at the start, and still now, as one of the more active members of the team. I realised at the start that I'm the youngest, and least experienced, but I can still hold my ground.”
In high school, she already gained some experience with this kind of structure by getting involved with school committees. “It was my first step towards leading a team, and being in contact with teachers, although it’s minute compared to this.”
On why she, in particular, was chosen for the UIF, she mentions her international perspective. However, alongside that, she also brings up her qualities as a team member. “If something doesn’t get done, I just do it”. There is this persistent desire, “not wanting to let the team down… always wanting to do my best”. This seems to be one of the prime reasons why she was approached initially, and it seems to be a major component as to how she thrived so well as a part of this project. This nature, to try her best, and to support her team as much as possible, seemed to assist her in her next challenge, as she found herself needing to be much more outgoing than she naturally was: “I’m not that extroverted I feel, other people may disagree, but I don’t like speaking in public, I don’t like giving presentations, I feel uneasy going up to people, introducing myself. It was good for me to learn how to do that.”
Given her native English, she was pushed to do what was best for the group and did have to learn, to present, to get out there. There was a significant networking aspect of this Fellows programme, and that was not comfortable for her at first either. However, as she spent more time at it, she found it quite beneficial: “being able to put myself out there, and networking... because these people, like the director of the DesignLab, they ask what I’m working on now, and I tell him about the smart cities project, and he says ‘I’ve done all my research before the DesignLab on smart citizens’, it’s getting into contact with these people you wouldn’t know otherwise.” She made contact with him once again at a recent event, where they discussed plans to found a ‘living lab’ in Curitiba, a Brazilian city which is the subject of Mélanie’s group’s semester project, as well as the location of an internship her group has this Summer. They plan to collaborate in the coming months, while over there.
After a considerable amount of research, the fellows within Twente determined that the university had the entrepreneurial culture, and the resources, but they just weren’t very well known. Students were not aware of them, and the organisations providing them do not collaborate as much as they could. To correct this, they decided to start a platform where these bodies could connect, where students can find many of these connections in one place. As well as this, the UIF team has just held one of their first random drink events, to aid in making these university-wide connections. Mélanie had this to say on the topic:
“Our first random drinks were a bit less popular with staff than we would have liked and unfortunately the president of the CVB (executive board of the university) could not attend. However, for those who attended the event with the right mindset, to network and have interesting conversations, the output was very interesting. We also achieved a nice level of enthusiasm and collaboration in our DesignLab like exercise building the random drinks logo.”
Mélanie’s also trying to apply what she is learning with this project to ATLAS, as a part of her personal pursuit. By looking at ATLAS’ culture, she hopes to improve the entrepreneurial spirit within the study, which seems like it would be a natural fit for many entrepreneurial efforts.
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.
