In Ad Valvas of 24 August, I read that during the introduction days of VU Amsterdam, rector magnificus Jeroen Geurts congratulated the three thousand new students on their choice of the VU for being most diverse and greenest university. On the accompanying photo, I see crowds of students. At that moment, I realise even more that next year, there will also be expectant and eager Creative Technology students among them. And that creates obligations. A student who has placed an educational future in your hands: you have to take good care of these students. And next year still seems far away, but it isn't. Because students must be able to register from 1 October. And then you have to know what you are signing up for so a lot has to be in place at that date!
It calls for information on a website. In the style of VU Amsterdam or perhaps in the style of both universities? How did we envisage this and do we have a well shared opinion on this? Oh yes, before we forget, the matching should also be on the website. Hmm...haven't thought of that yet, because we didn't have the matching in the same way with Mechanical Engineering.
Images for those websites: of course we have loads of pictures of great CreaTe projects and students, but often just too noisy, just not diverse enough, just not this and just not that. And I would like to see authentic images: our own students in their own habitat. Another challenge to be solved and to be added to our already long list with things-to-do.
And then there are the vacancies. Fortunately, we have a number of good applicants and it felt good to emphasise in the information sessions that we are really looking for teaching champions who also do research (and not the other way around). We will probably get them, but it's not easy. There are currently about ten vacancies at Dutch universities with similar profiles. So we have to make sure we are very attractive. And fortunately CreaTe is attractive 😊.
And then there is the question about the appropriate space. Having about 300 CreaTe students collaboratively working on projects is a challenge. Our campus may be spacious but does not necessarily hold a lot of unused lab space that fits CreaTe. And yes, new buildings are being added but that time frame is not the same as our time frame. Within a year, the students will have joined us and for this we need all the support in the world.
And so we are all, as one big team, working to get everything done on time. To get ourselves organised again after the holidays, to know what is going on and where action is required. And that is a lot. But there is enough dedication and drive. There are certainly misunderstandings, but aligning well and exchanging images helps. And it helps enormously that we can make use of the experience of Mechanical Engineering at the VU Amsterdam.
Meanwhile, we also started the year in Twente with a wonderful introduction week. Also diverse and where it concerns CreaTe also green, the house colour of Proto, the study association of CreaTe.