News in Brief – Delta 5

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).

 

Aan de TU en andere universiteiten zijn initiatieven gestart om zo’n registratiesysteem te maken. Probleem voor de universiteiten is dat ze nu vaak niet weten waar studenten en medewerkers zich bevinden. Dat wreekt zich in noodsituaties zoals de onrust in de landen waar nu opstanden zijn tegen (dictatoriale) regimes.

Volgens directeur onderwijs Anka Mulder ‘leeft bij ons de behoefte’ om centraal voor de hele universiteit vast te leggen wanneer een student naar het buitenland gaat en waarheen. Nu nog wordt dat meestal alleen geregistreerd door de opleiding zelf, vaak bij de stagecoördinator.

Mulder merkt op dat studenten sinds 2011 zelf in het onderwijssysteem Osiris kunnen vastleggen naar welk adres in het buitenland ze gaan. “Ook wil de TU Delft kijken of toekenning van studiepunten behaald tijdens een verblijf in het buitenland kan worden gekoppeld aan een verplichte registratie in Osiris”, aldus Mulder. Binnenkort start de TU een campagne waarbij een verzekering wordt gekoppeld aan het buitenlandverblijf van de studenten. “Wij hopen dat dit voor studenten een extra stimulans is om hun verblijf te registreren.”
De centrale registratie van medewerkers is volgens Mulder een minder groot probleem. Normaal gesproken wordt een dienstreis vooraf besproken, verzekerd en vastgelegd door de afdeling personeelszaken.

De ongeregeldheden in Noord-Afrika en het Midden-Oosten waren voor de universiteiten van Leiden en Nijmegen ook reden om de registratie te verbeteren. De Radboud Universiteit gaat faculteiten verplichten alle buitenlandverblijven van studenten te registeren. Leiden pakt lacunes aan, zoals mobiele nummers die studenten tijdelijk gebruiken in het gastland.