News in Brief - Delta 5

Postponement
The Student Council wants TU Delft to postpone the increase of the binding recommendation on continuation of studies (BSA) to 45 ECTS. The Student Council thinks TU Delft is not yet ready for the increase, because the information for prospective students is ‘incomplete and often even erroneous’. In a letter to the Executive Board, the Student Council describes several examples of erroneous information on the internet during open days and in folders and brochures. The students think the information should be accurate at least one year before the BSA increase goes into effect. Another problem is that study programs cannot be changed in time, says the Student Council. The Executive Board says BSA information is now correct. The Board also thinks there is enough time to critically look at study programs and to intensify study support. The Board says the introduction of an increased BSA can proceed as planned in September 2012.

CEOs
How do you become a CEO? In a lecture series organized by engineering association Kivi Niria, CEOs of big companies will tell students how they made it to the top. The first speaker is the former head of Siemens, Martin van Pernis, who tell his story this afternoon at 16:00 in the faculty building of Civil Engineering & Geosciences. More info on the website.
www.kns-delft.nl

UFOs
Coen Vermeeren, the head of Studium Generale and part-time teacher at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering, will stop his positions at the faculty 1 February. He will now spend all of his contract hours at Studium Generale. The reason for this move was that there were concerns about whether Vermeeren’s controversial views about UFOs could be satisfactorily separated from his responsibilities at TU Delft.

‘Cool’ symposium
On Friday 23 March 2012, TU Delft will host a symposium called, ‘The Essence of Cool’, which will explore the phenomenon of ‘coolness’. When it comes to people, products or buildings, some are cool, some not, and yet the success of products – like cars, clothing, furniture - can largely depend on their coolness. The symposium will address how designers should deal with the degrees of built-in coolness or cultural relevance that products should have for users. Renowned speakers attending will include Satoshi Okada (architect, Japan), Giovanni Pagnotta (industrial designer, USA) and cultural anthropologist Grant McCracken (USA, author of ‘Culture and Consumption’ and ’Chief Culture Officer’). The Renault ‘Dezir’ concept sports car will also be exhibited. Tickets for students cost 15 euros. More info on the site.
essenceofcool.org

TEDxDelft salons
The first TEDxDelft event was held on 7 November 2011, in the Aula Congress Centre, with some 900 people enjoying a wide variety of speakers. As a follow up, there will now be salon-type events, called TEDxDelftSalon, held in TU Delft Library’s HIVE room. These monthly small-scale events will feature one
TED.com talk, one live speaker and a discussion during lunchtime. The first TEDxDelftSalon will be held on Wednesday, 22 February 2012. To attend, register via the TEDxDelft Facebook page.
facebook.com/TEDxDelft

3TU concert
On Thursday 1 March 2012, the student music associations of the Netherlands’ three universities of technology (3TUs - Delft, Eindhoven, Twente) will join forces to stage a special concert marking the fifth anniversary of the 3TU.Federation. The orchestras of Shot, DSMG Krashna Musika and ESMG Quadrivium will preform well-known works at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. TU Delft’s orchestra and choir Krashna Musika will perform L’Apprenti Sorcier (Paul Dukas) and Frühlingsbegräbnis (Alexander von Zemlinsky). Tickets, available through the Concertgebouw website, cost €15 (regular) and €10 (students). The concert starts at 20:15.
www.3tuconcert.nl

Paris best
The British university ranking agency, QS, published its first-ever ‘Best Student Cities’ ranking. Based on complex sets of measures taken from public information, population sizes, number of educational establishments and their quality, Paris was ranked as the best student city in the world, followed in the top 10 by London, Boston, Melbourne, Vienna Sydney, Zurich, Berlin, Dublin and Montreal. Amsterdam was the highest ranked Dutch city, in 36th place, one spot behind Manchester and just ahead of Moscow and Brussels. Amsterdam scored the lowest on affordability (44 points out of 100) and the highest for ‘quality of living’ (96.5 points).