In de begroting ontziet de regering het onderwijs. Dat zei koningin Beatrix kort na het middaguur in de troonrede. Een ‘adequaat onderwijssysteem’ vergt immers de nodige financiële inspanningen, voegde zij eraan toe.
Daarom zal er niet op bezuinigd worden. Bij monde van de koningin meldde de regering dat het onderwijsbeleid altijd gericht is geweest op “kwaliteit en toegankelijkheid”. Op die weg zullen ‘nog veel stappen’ gezet moeten worden.
Opklimmen
In haar tekst wees de koningin ook op het advies van het Innovatieplatform, dat Nederland graag ziet opklimmen van de tiende plek naar de top vijf op de internationale ranglijst van kenniseconomieën. Ook daarvoor zijn geen extra middelen gevonden. Wel verzoekt de regering het bedrijfsleven om een hogere bijdrage voor onderzoek en ontwikkeling.
De troonrede is geschreven door de huidige demissionaire regering onder leiding van premier Balkenende.
The Idea League has much to offer TU Delft students, although many students still aren’t fully aware of this. I first heard about the Idea League last August, when my MSc program coordinator emailed with information about a Summer School workshop on urban mobility. The workshop, hosted by RWTH Aachen (Germany), was held last September.
As urban mobility is one of my main areas of interest, I read the program carefully. Besides lectures and workshops, there were many social activities planned for getting to know the other participants. All expenses were covered by the Idea League (except travel costs to Aachen), so attending the seminar wasn’t expensive. I applied and was accepted.
The experience was highly valuable. On the first day, the participants from all the Idea League universities were welcomed by our hosts at RWTH Aachen and introduced to the Idea League’s objectives and various activities. After our introduction, we toured Aachen and learned about the city’s architectural history and cultural heritage as a historic spa city and center of Charlemagne’s empire in the 8-9th centuries. The second day, we attended lectures on the future trends of urban mobility and were introduced to some creativity-stimulation techniques.
On the third day we woke early and visited the Ford Research Center in Aachen, where we attended a lecture on the development of electric cars. Later, we travelled to Cologne, where we visited Ford’s automated manufacturing plant and had the chance to see how the entire car assembly process works. After that, we toured Cologne and had dinner in a famous brewery. On the fourth day, we attended lectures on entrepreneurship and how to write a good business plan. Our last day, we presented our ideas and a jury gave awards to the three teams that had developed the best products.
When I returned from Aachen, some friends in Delft asked what I had found most interesting at the Summer School. I didn’t hesitate to answer that besides being able to participate in a very interesting program, I got to know some great people and now feel a part of the Idea League community, which, in addition to TU Delft and RWTH Aachen, includes Imperial College London, ETW Zurich and ParisTech.
Research grants
The Idea League offers student research grants of up to €1000 per month for stays at Idea League partner universities. All students (BSc, MSc, PhD) can apply. Projects should be related to the Idea League excellence cluster research areas: Energy, Environment, Health, ICT or Mobility.
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