The first month of 2020 has already passed. Time to have a look at what's ahead this calendar year? We asked the various departments at our university of applied sciences to give us an idea.
Executive Board: contributing to a vital region
According to Timo Kos, who joined the Executive Board on 1 January 2020, Saxion will continue to implement its strategic agenda (2020-2024) in 2020, which focuses on the region. “Saxion wants to contribute to a vibrant region by remaining an attractive university of applied sciences to students. We want to be the leading university of applied sciences, offering future-proof education including applied research for smart solutions. Furthermore, we want to be an effective organisation ready to serve the region. We will continue to build on this together, in 2020 and the following years. In this way, Saxion will strengthen the regions in the eastern part of the Netherlands and will help companies and other partners to remain innovative and competitive.”
"My experience with educational development and innovation, especially in the field of digitization, could be useful to achieve this aim," Timo says about his own contribution to the strategic agenda. "In doing so, I focus on strengthening connections across the boundaries of teams, schools, departments or services, and especially externally with companies, institutions and governments in the region and beyond."
The Comenius Programme and Top Talent Programme: results of the ‘Voorbij Vakmanschap’ (beyond professional expertise) pilot project and an anniversary
"In the summer, the first group of students will have finished the ‘Voorbij Vakmanschap’ pilot project," says Marike Lammers, project leader of the Comenius Programme. “And this is very exciting: what do the lecturers think of the project, what are the students' experiences and what effect did it have? I am curious to know what the Honours Approach has brought to the students.”
In her position as director of the Top Talent Programme, she is hoping to add two new excellence tracks to the programme, together with her colleagues. It concerns the following tracks: cybercrime and blockchain. The Innovation Days will also be part of the programme again. “An annual two-day event at which Top Talent students will be experimenting with something new. This year's theme is ‘Theory U’, a theory to determine your own goals in life."
Top Talent will also be celebrating its tenth anniversary on 28 February. “On that day, we will invite everyone who has ever been involved in Top Talent to share their memories. It is a milestone: what did the programme bring the students over the past ten years? We now apply the acquired insights in our regular teaching, to make it a little bit better still. That is why it is very important that we had the chance to do this."
In the coming period, a framework will be developed for the PD projects: how long will they take, will they be full-time or part-time and what will be the role of companies and educational institutions? This framework will be developed by a programme team. We hope that someone from Saxion will participate, so that we will also have a say in the matter.
Saxion Research & Graduate School: PhD rights and the research agenda
Hans Vossensteyn, director of the Saxion Research & Graduate School: “The minister recently announced that universities of applied sciences will be granted PhD rights, although this still needs to be approved by the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament. In the coming period, a framework will be developed for the PD projects: how long will they take, will they be full-time or part-time and what will be the role of companies and educational institutions? This framework will be developed by a programme team. We hope that someone from Saxion will participate, so that we will also have a say in the matter. There will also be a number of pilot projects. Saxion wants to join in with these. We can give six interested students the opportunity to follow an English-taught PD track in which they will be working on a practice-oriented research question, provided they find a company that is willing to contribute and that they are supported by a research group.”
“As regards the research programme, we will determine the research track: what are the major research priorities in the coming four years?” The national theme is social earning capacity. “And within this track, we need to develop more research programmes where lecturers, research groups and researchers can join in. We want to initiate as many collaborations for researchers as possible and link up with national research initiatives and funding opportunities, such as RAAK, Horizon Europe and the Dutch National Investment Fund. In order to structure the research tracks well and to ensure that they are properly attuned, we will draw up an implementation plan to strengthen the research agenda.”
KOSS: organising parties and co-determining the Enschede student policy
In 2020, the ‘Koepel Overleg Studenten Saxion (KOSS)’ (student body) will be organising a number of parties. "Just like we did last year, and the year before that," says Thijmen Huisman smiling. He is a member of the internal affairs board. “On Maundy Thursday, we will be organising the ‘HBO Gala’ event in Bölke. In addition, we are planning two theme parties in De Generaal, and every two weeks we will have our student association evenings. There is also a ‘boards weekend’ scheduled." We will, however, be organising events on more serious subjects too. "We are working on offering workshops through Education and Student Support and the Study Success Centre."
The KOSS also wants to get involved in determining the municipality of Enschede's student policy. “They asked us to join a brainstorming session on developing a new student policy. We further have a monthly meeting with the alderman, but a new one will be appointed soon, so now we will have to wait and see. The ‘Enschede Studentenstad’ (student city of Enschede) website, for example, only lists the student associations of the University of Twente. We would like to see Saxion's associations included as well. This is how we try to put Saxion on the map."
Saxion Part-time School: driving innovation and offering tailor-made solutions to companies
“The Saxion Parttime School (SPS) is entering its fourth year," says director Dick Sweitser. “And we want to take the next step in teaching innovation, so that our teaching is even better attuned to market demand than before. This means that we are constantly working on further developing our educational offerings. At the same time, we want to introduce more variety with regard to learning activities, so that we are better attuned to the professional context of those in employment: so-called workplace learning."
In addition, the SPS wants to see how it can use its modules as part of a customised service to companies. “How are we going to approach the corporate market, which is new to us, and how are we going to contribute to the development of the employees of those companies? This is all very exciting, of course. Finally, we want to improve the effectiveness of our teaching organisation. A plan has been developed for this purpose: Saxion Parttime Next Step. The plan describes how our organisation can connect even more effectively with the existing Saxion schools. We want to improve the mutual collaboration.
Staff and students can collect projects here, but they also play an important role in managing these projects. In the coming weeks, we will be going on a number of working visits to check out best practices in the Netherlands.
Saxion Business Point: linking up with ArtEZ and participating in innovation hubs
In 2020, the Saxion Business Point wants to establish closer links with Novel-T and seek collaboration with the AKI Art & Design Enschede ArtEZ and the ArtEZ School of Music. Project leader Bas Olde Hampsink says that: “In this way we can help companies start innovation projects, by deploying students from any school and at any level. This will increase both the companies’ and our know-how, and enables us to have a greater positive effect on talent retention in the region.”
"We will also continue to participate in innovation hubs developed in the region," he continues. "These are partnerships with local small and medium-sized businesses. This increases Saxion’s visibility to an entire consortium and allows companies to have access to the whole of Saxion, for things such as knowledge development and talent scouting. Trainees, graduates and Smart Solutions groups can also participate in this. Three or four of such innovation hubs have already been created, and further hubs will be set up."
International Office: Dutch lessons for exchange students and intensifying partnerships
Director Janco Bonnink, director of Education and Student Support, which includes the International Office, argues: “When it comes to recruiting international students, Saxion wants to focus more on online channels, and we want to offer a central programme during the HOI-introduction week. In the past, every school organised something itself, and now everyone agrees that: it is much nicer to do this collectively. This is more efficient for us, but also more fun for the students."
"In February, we will start a pilot for international exchange students," he continues. “This means that they will get Dutch language and culture classes. We then want to use these experiences to also bind and retain the students who come to the Netherlands for four years, because ultimately we want them to find a job at a company in the region.”
In addition, in 2020 Saxion wants to strengthen the existing international partnerships, such as with Arizona State University, the Fachhochschule Münster and the Hochschule of Osnabrück. “We want to collaborate more and more intensively and to also approach them much more from a Saxion-wide perspective, rather than from the individual school perspective. That will be quite a change."
Sustainable Development Goals: Green Office and partner for the region
A lot is already happening in the field of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says Rik Eijsink, responsible for the SDGs within Saxion. "Without attaching too many performance indicators to the SDGs, we want to make them visible, to promote them and to inspire and challenge employees, lecturers and professors to work towards achieving them." To that end, Saxion will set up a veritable Green Office in 2020: a central coordination point for everything that is being done in the context of the SDGs. “Staff and students can collect projects here, but they also play an important role in managing these projects. In the coming weeks, we will be going on a number of working visits to check out best practices in the Netherlands.”
The regional authorities are also aware that Saxion is doing well in terms of sustainable development goals. “The municipalities of Enschede and Deventer are asking us to partner up with them in achieving the SDGs for the region, so we are being involved in all kinds of consultative bodies. There are many aspects to SDGs and the challenge will be to properly coordinate the efforts, so that everyone knows what is happening.”
