Campus

News in brief

De Bont 2.0
The faculty of Industrial Design Engineering needs a “Cees de Bont 2.0”, says Jouke Verlinden, member of the faculty’s Personnel Committee.

Professor Cees de Bont will leave his post as faculty dean on February 2012, in order to become dean of the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dean De Bont is greatly appreciated by Verlinden and the faculty’s student union and student council. According to Verlinden, the outgoing dean was a good discussion partner and managed to keep the faculty’s finances in balance.


Top coach

With financial support from TU Delft, the American Olympic rower, John Parker, has been appointed as top coach of the Rowing Talent Center Zuid-Holland, one of four regional talent centers of the Dutch rowing association (Koninklijke Nederlandse Roeibond). Students from TU Delft’s student rowing clubs, Laga and Proteus Eretes, will be coached by Parker, as are two top US rowers, Ursula Grobler and Hillary Saeger, who are currently preparing for the Olympic Games in London.


Choice guide

The VSSD student union says the research conducted as the basis for the 2012 University Choice Guide was too limited. In this guide for prospective university students, TU Delft received a low ranking. The VSSD says the guide’s editors too selectively analysed the student evaluations contained in the National Student Survey (NSE). The union finds the conclusion “TU Delft students are more critical than students of other universities is more appropriate than the conclusion that TU Delft’s research quality is worse than at other universities”. The union believes that what’s more important is what “society, in the form of employers, thinks of the quality of graduates”.


‘Something tangible’

Popular Dutch comedian, Youp van ‘t Hek, will be TU Delft’s second cultural professor, following photographer Vincent Mentzel. Twenty students will participate in Van ‘t Hek’s masterclasses, in which the theme is ‘apart from everything’. Van ‘t Hek will start his guest professorship with a public lecture on March 8. This will be followed by six closed classes for students, followed by a trip to a yet unknown destination in Europe that has always served as an inspiration for the comedian. All this should result in ‘something tangible’, which will be presented during a final public lecture on May 11.


Complimentary people

‘Who has the lead?’ That was the theme of the inaugural lecture delivered by Karin Laglas, the new dean of the faculty of Architecture. In her lecture, Dean Laglas mentioned the growing numbers of actors and users claiming roles in the design process of the built environment. Leadership is needed, and Dean Laglas is pleading for complementariness: managers who know about designing and designers who know about the design process.


Sustainable elsewhere

Professor Ad van Wijk is brimming with plans for a sustainable future. This week the part-time professor of future energy systems delivered his inaugural address. “I’m hopeful, because I see that sustainable developments are coming our way.” But they just won’t be coming from the Netherlands. “We will be behind, I’m afraid,” Prof. Van Wijk said. “But globally that isn’t a problem. Some things are happening here…. But compare the Netherlands with Germany. We placed a total of 100 megawatts in solar cells, whereas Germany builds those numbers in a week. China is much further in producing cheap windmills, solar cells, batteries, etc. Brazil is building an ethanol economy, and India has had a sustainable economy minister for decades.”


Patience please

Student representatives from the universities of Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam believe that the Executive Boards of their respective universities must be more open about their prospective partnership plans. A joint missive from TU Delft’s Student Council and student sections of the university councils of Leiden and Rotterdam stated that “it seems as if much is crystallising behind the scenes, without information about this reaching co-representative bodies. With an eye towards sound decision-making, it seems to us that it is desirable to (also) keep co-representative bodies well informed about the various developments.” According to TU Delft Executive Board member Paul Rullman, there is no news to report at this time: “Students must remain patient.”


Poor maintenance

TU Delft expects to end the 2012 financial year with a positive balance of 21.3 million euros. The Executive Board wants to save that money and spend it later on new research, education and valorization projects. The buildings on the campus however are a risk, as many are poorly maintained. In 1995, the government gave all the campus buildings to TU Delft, but with no additional funding for maintenance; consequently, maintenance costs are running a deficit of 150 million euros. The Executive Board will only spend money in places that can no longer wait for a facelift, but it’s likely that more buildings will require immediate maintenance work.   

Hoogleraren kregen gisteren allemaal een mail van rector magnificus Karel Luyben, waarin hij hen vraagt de 21ste in toga naar Den Haag te komen. Het plan lijkt bij hoogleraren de juiste snaar te raken.
Want volgens prof.dr Paul Hekkert van Industrieel Ontwerpen bestaat er al jaren een groeiende verontwaardiging over het overheidsbeleid betreffende onderwijs en innovatie. “De overheid heeft er de mond vol van, maar het wordt steeds minder. Wij hoogleraren zijn niet van die protesteerders, maar deze actie is een mooi signaal.”
Zelf wil Hekkert graag gaan, want het wordt volgens hem een ludieke en interessante dag de 21ste. Hij moet er alleen wel zijn plannen om een weekendje te gaan skiën voor aanpassen. Ook anderen zullen volgens hem nog ‘een hele klus’ hebben aan het leeg krijgen van hun agenda’s.
Dat denkt ook prof.dr.ir. Peter Kroes van Techniek, Bestuur en Management. “Ik ga, want mijn agenda laat het toe. Ik denk dat iedereen de bezorgdheid deelt en dat hoogleraren zullen komen, voor zover hun agenda’s het toelaten.”
De voorzitter van de Raad van Hoogleraren hoopt dat het zoveel mogelijk collega’s lukt naar Den Haag te gaan. “Het is ongekend dat dit gebeurt. Dat we protesteren, en dan ook nog eens op dezelfde dag als de studenten. Maar juist omdat het zo bijzonder is, is het wel erg belangrijk dat het slaagt. Anders schieten we ons doel voorbij. Dat zou heel jammer zijn”, aldus Kroes.
Volgens prof.dr. Marc de Vries van Technische Natuurwetenschappen telt Nederland zoveel hoogleraren dat het moet lukken in grote getalen op te komen. “Het onderwerp zoemt overal rond.” Zelf weet hij nog niet of het hem lukt zijn volle agenda leeg te krijgen. “Ik ga het zeker proberen, maar het is lastig als je afspraken uit het buitenland komen.”
Agendaproblemen hebben ook de hoogleraren van de faculteit Civiele Techniek en Geowetenschappen. Voor hen staat de 21ste een facultaire bezinningsdag gepland. Zij beslissen morgen in overleg met de decaan of dat plan moet wijken voor de demonstratie.

Editor Redactie

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