TU ChinaTU Delft has become the first Dutch university to open a research branch in China. The Delft University of Technology-Beijing Research Centre is based in the Institute of Semiconductors at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).
In the first phase, the TU Delft branch will appoint a number of PhD students who will receive their diplomas from TU Delft. The candidates, who will focus on research into improved LED lighting, will be supervised by professors from both TU Delft and CAS. The scientific programme will be coordinated by Professor Guo Qi Zhang, a part-time professor at TU Delft.
Happy Holland
According to well-being surveys taken by Gallup in 2010, the Netherlands is the 9th happiest country in the world. Denmark was deemed the happiest country according to Gallup’s measurements, which uses the ‘Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale’ to determine what percentage of people can be described as ‘thriving’. Some 72 percent of Danes rated their lives ‘a 7 or higher and their lives in five years an 8 or higher’. In Holland, that figure was 62%, good for a 9th place tie with Ireland on the happiness scale. Denmark was followed by Sweden, Canada, Australia and Finland, in the Top 5, while at the other end of the scale, Chad (1%), Central African Republic (2%) and Haiti (2%) were the countries with the lowest reported wellbeing.
Empty buildings
Four TU Delft students are currently engaged in setting up a foundation, called SHS Delft, that aims to convert empty office buildings into student housing. SHS, backed by the municipality of Delft, has asked some dozen local building owners if they’re interested in cooperating. Usually such owners are not very keen on these kinds of projects, as the projects are not very profitable. But SHS chairman Sven Volkers thinks he has a good chance now that many office buildings have remained empty due to the economic crisis. SHS wants to work together with teachers and students of the faculties of Architecture and Industrial Design Engineering. Volkers hopes that in this way at least 100 student rooms could be made available before the summer of 2012.
Going electric
Rotterdam City Council plans to give people subsidies if they switch from gasoline-powered motor scooters to electric ones. The council hopes that the more environmentally friendly electric scooter will be become the norm on city streets. Replacing the thousands of polluting and noisy scooters should improve air pollution levels. And the subsidies should encourage consumers to make the switch. People in the province of Limburg can already claim a 700 euros subsidy if they buy electric. The subsidies compensate for the fact that electric scooters are more expensive than gas-powered ones.
Less clean
Recent research commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund reveals that the Netherlands is trailing many other countries in the field of clean technology. In 2009, the Dutch were ranked 17th globally in the clean technology sector, but in 2010 fell to 18th place. Countries were assessed according to their levels of turnover and investment in the sector. The Dutch clean technology sector increased its turnover by 15 percent in 2010, but that was insufficient compared to many other countries, such as Denmark, which has a huge wind farm industry and tops all other countries in the clean technology index. China, too, is rapidly developing its clean technology sector. Approximately 280 companies in the Netherlands are involved in clean technology, with the majority engaged in sustainable energy production and energy efficiency, while the Dutch clean technology sector as a whole is currently worth about nearly 2 billion euros, with experts predicating that this figure could climb to 8.6 billion by 2015.
,
Fraud
Four TU Delft faculties have reported an increase in reports of academic fraud during exams. The boards of examiners usually deal with at most three cases of fraud per year, but since last year this has increased to ten or fifteen reports of alleged fraud per year. The reports concern the faculties of Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, and Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. Students say they commit acts of fraud because of the ‘Bachelor-before-Master’ rule and the government proposals concerning long-studying students.
Meisjes zijn nog steeds in de minderheid in studerend Delft. Speciaal voor de aankomende vrouwelijke eerstejaars organiseerde de Owee-organisatie dinsdag een introductiedag. Zo’n tweehonderd dames werden verwend met intrigerende workshops als vuurspuwen, cocktailshaken en tattoo schilderen. Daarna volgde een diner en een feest. Op de foto maken de technogirls bij Proteus kennis met de roeisport.
TU China
TU Delft has become the first Dutch university to open a research branch in China. The Delft University of Technology-Beijing Research Centre is based in the Institute of Semiconductors at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). In the first phase, the TU Delft branch will appoint a number of PhD students who will receive their diplomas from TU Delft. The candidates, who will focus on research into improved LED lighting, will be supervised by professors from both TU Delft and CAS. The scientific programme will be coordinated by Professor Guo Qi Zhang, a part-time professor at TU Delft.
Happy Holland
According to well-being surveys taken by Gallup in 2010, the Netherlands is the 9th happiest country in the world. Denmark was deemed the happiest country according to Gallup’s measurements, which uses the ‘Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale’ to determine what percentage of people can be described as ‘thriving’. Some 72 percent of Danes rated their lives ‘a 7 or higher and their lives in five years an 8 or higher’. In Holland, that figure was 62%, good for a 9th place tie with Ireland on the happiness scale. Denmark was followed by Sweden, Canada, Australia and Finland, in the Top 5, while at the other end of the scale, Chad (1%), Central African Republic (2%) and Haiti (2%) were the countries with the lowest reported wellbeing.
Empty buildings
Four TU Delft students are currently engaged in setting up a foundation, called SHS Delft, that aims to convert empty office buildings into student housing. SHS, backed by the municipality of Delft, has asked some dozen local building owners if they’re interested in cooperating. Usually such owners are not very keen on these kinds of projects, as the projects are not very profitable. But SHS chairman Sven Volkers thinks he has a good chance now that many office buildings have remained empty due to the economic crisis. SHS wants to work together with teachers and students of the faculties of Architecture and Industrial Design Engineering. Volkers hopes that in this way at least 100 student rooms could be made available before the summer of 2012.
Going electric
Rotterdam City Council plans to give people subsidies if they switch from gasoline-powered motor scooters to electric ones. The council hopes that the more environmentally friendly electric scooter will be become the norm on city streets. Replacing the thousands of polluting and noisy scooters should improve air pollution levels. And the subsidies should encourage consumers to make the switch. People in the province of Limburg can already claim a 700 euros subsidy if they buy electric. The subsidies compensate for the fact that electric scooters are more expensive than gas-powered ones.
Less clean
Recent research commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund reveals that the Netherlands is trailing many other countries in the field of clean technology. In 2009, the Dutch were ranked 17th globally in the clean technology sector, but in 2010 fell to 18th place. Countries were assessed according to their levels of turnover and investment in the sector. The Dutch clean technology sector increased its turnover by 15 percent in 2010, but that was insufficient compared to many other countries, such as Denmark, which has a huge wind farm industry and tops all other countries in the clean technology index. China, too, is rapidly developing its clean technology sector. Approximately 280 companies in the Netherlands are involved in clean technology, with the majority engaged in sustainable energy production and energy efficiency, while the Dutch clean technology sector as a whole is currently worth about nearly 2 billion euros, with experts predicating that this figure could climb to 8.6 billion by 2015.
Fraud
Four TU Delft faculties have reported an increase in reports of academic fraud during exams. The boards of examiners usually deal with at most three cases of fraud per year, but since last year this has increased to ten or fifteen reports of alleged fraud per year. The reports concern the faculties of Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, and Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering. Students say they commit acts of fraud because of the ‘Bachelor-before-Master’ rule and the government proposals concerning long-studying students.
Do you have a question or comment about this article?
delta@tudelft.nl
Comments are closed.