Section 3 Education - Making an impact

The educational innovation programme ‘Impact at the Core’ was launched in 2020 and focuses on the development of impact-driven education. The aim is to offer every EUR student on every programme at least one educational opportunity to work with direct stakeholders from outside the university to tackle societal issues.

Master's in Societal Transition

In 2023, Master’s students in the Netherlands can for the first time take a full Master’s degree in sustainable and fair societal transitions. This programme has been developed by academics from a number of faculties and was initiated by the Design Impact Transition (DIT) platform and with the help of the educational innovation programme ‘Impact at the Core’. 

Transdisciplinarity lies at the heart of this programme: by linking insights from a range of disciplines – from philosophy to ecology – with practice, students learn to unravel complex and stubborn sustainability problems. They also develop the skills to facilitate transitions through an enterprising and design-oriented approach. Leadership and reflexivity training are recurrent themes in the programme and support students in navigating their learning pathway. Instead of writing a Master’s thesis, students and lecturers work with societal stakeholders to create an action-oriented transition intervention. 

In co-creation with the faculties, substantial progress has already been made in the last two years in the creation and implementation of impact-driven education. The ‘Transformative Learning Project’ was launched at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). The aim of this project is to promote education in all Master’s programmes with realistic issues as the starting point. The project focuses on students’ attitude and skills. This education supports their personal and professional develop to enable them to create positive societal impact.

Together with the community

 Developing impact-driven education is a cultural and organisational challenge. That is why this design and change issue is being actively addressed together with all faculties. At ‘Communities of Practice’ sessions on impact learning, a very broad representation of EUR staff and students produced a ‘position paper on impact-driven education’ for EUR. An Impact Education Week was also held, where lecturers, students and stakeholders were inspired and talked to each other about impact-driven education. In addition, breakfast meetings were held for both the broader community and Bachelor’s directors and coordinators to discuss impact-driven education. 

Impact learning is now widely supported by EUR and will play a central role in the revised educational vision in 2023. It has become an integral part of our education. 

Impact learning is engaged learning

 Impact requires engagement with the society of which EUR forms part. It is only by actually engaging with our environment that we can keep abreast of current issues and needs and how we can respond to them. That is why we are investing more and more in a dialogue with our environment and in shaping practical collaboration at a number of levels. Our focus is on our immediate environment – on the city and the urban districts. We link the issues there to our education and encourage our students to think about how they can made an impact on these issues. 

Redefining the Classroom with the Erasmus X programme

Learning through engagement is best done outside lecture halls. The innovation programme Erasmus X has therefore taken up the challenge of designing this new way of learning. Erasmus X is an educational innovation programme outside the frameworks of traditional university education. In the HefHouse in Rotterdam-Zuid, Erasmus X has developed a new type of ‘classroom’. Here, students and lecturers meet stakeholders and residents from the local community. Together they define challenges.

The CARE (Community-oriented Action-based Real-world Education) project gives EUR students the opportunity to integrate theoretical knowledge and skills in practice. CARE received a Comenius Senior Fellowship to this end in 2022, which was converted into a summer course and a major at Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE). In order to transpose engagement to our teaching approach, the

CARE project uses an experimental learning environment in which students also learn to adopt a transdisciplinary approach to their work based on their own engagement in this context. The project is to be expanded with a collaboration between pre-vocational secondary education schools in Rotterdam in 2023. Students will work with secondary education pupils to address societal problems affecting their neighbourhood and their district. 

Building more bridges

 Alongside the ‘Redefining the Classroom’ initiative, significant efforts were made in 2022 to further expand the networks in the city and the region to build an infrastructure that permanently links our university to relevant issues and partners in the city. On the basis of ‘Impact at the Core’ and the Erasmus Verbindt initiative, a network of Bruggenbouwers-en-Buitenspelers (Bridge Builders and Wingers) was set up to achieve faster, more effective and more transparent cooperation with partners in the city. There was also a successful pilot of a new relations management system. Partners can post tasks directly in the system, thus supporting cooperation between the education sector and societal partners within the digital learning environment. This platform will be launched across EUR in 2023.

City Deal Kennis Maken

A pilot project of the Impact Space has been developed using a grant from the City Deal Kennis Maken (CDKM). The CDKM aims to accelerate the implementation of social tasks by involving researchers, lecturers and students. The Impact Space offers opportunities to work together with other higher education institutions to tackle societal issues in the Rotterdam region. 

Two knowledge brokers organised thematic stakeholder networks. The result was two themed dialogues on how education can contribute towards transitions within health care and to urban transitions within  Rotterdam and what preconditions need to be met.

The year 2022 saw the introduction of the LDE minors ‘Space Missions’ and ‘(Re)imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, Society and Culture’. The ‘Space Missions’ minor is active at the interface of science and technology and is aimed at students who are interested in space travel. Experts from Leiden University and TU Delft offer this new generation of academics and engineers a broad understanding of the key disciplines involved, after which multidisciplinary teams work on an assignment from the space industry. The ‘(Re)imagining Port Cities: Understanding Space, Society and Culture’ minor stems from the academic LDE Port City Futures programme and is available to all Bachelor’s students from the LDE universities who are interested in port cities (particularly the city of Rotterdam) and in research into and design of a social, historical and cultural context.

For students without a background in design, this means an introduction to the thinking and actions of designers and insight into the relationship between design and their own professional way of thinking.

Growing numbers of international students are choosing to complete all or part of their studies at EUR. The number of partnership is also on the up. The 2021-2024 Internationalisation Policy was reviewed in 2022. The outcome confirmed the importance of internationalisation for EUR. In the run up to 2024, efforts will be made to optimise the external collaboration and partnership policy, to further develop and stimulate inclusive mobility for students and employees and to further expand support and internal capacity to support the faculties. 

Encouraging student and staff mobility

A number of international joint Master’s programme can take advantage of the Erasmus+ Mundus programme. The Erasmus School for History and Communication (ESHCC) developed a new joint Master’s programme in 2022, which has been awarded an Erasmus+ Mundus grant. Student exchange programmes got back on track in 2022 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 1509 EUR students travelled abroad and 1208 international students came to EUR. These exchanges took place with partners in 66 countries, 23 of which were located in the European Economic Area (EEA). Student mobility was financed not only by the Erasmus+ programme, but also by

the Study in NL programme. This includes the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) and the Holland Scholarship Programme (HSP, supplemented with budget from the profiling fund where necessary). In 2022, fifty international (non-EEA) received a scholarship to study at EUR (six OKP, 44 HSP) and 55 students studied abroad through the HSP. For sustainability reasons, the European UNIC partnership is looking into ways of further developing and implementing digital and blended mobility. 

With the aid of an internal financial boost from EUR, EUR also invested in an international exchange for teaching and non-teaching staff in 2022. Therefore, EUR’s Human Resources department introduced a quality framework for mobility in 2022 together with ESHCC. 

EUR supports policy with research. Together with the Community for Learning and Innovation (CLI), ESHCC and the Erasmus School for Economics (ESE), a study has been launched into the impact of these international programmes on student development.

The Student Wellbeing programme made substantial progress in 2022 in achieving its mission ‘From academic success to student success’. During the opening of the 2022-2023 academic year, Rector Magnificus Annelien Bredenoord and the vice-deans responsible for education in all faculties signed a manifesto on student wellbeing. The manifesto contains seven points for better wellbeing for all EUR students and provides a solid foundation for the project activities within the Student Wellbeing programme. 

A good example of the implementation of this manifesto is the short, catchy animation on student wellbeing developed in 2022 and shown by the faculties to all students three times every academic year, always prior to a lecture or tutorial. This animation addresses the taboo of mental health problems and refers to the overview of support services also developed in 2022. The animation advises students to seek support in good time. 

Increasing numbers of students made use of the Student Living Room in 2022. This is a space where they can relax, meet fellow students or obtain information on personal development and wellbeing. More than a hundred students visit the ‘living room’ every day. They give the initiative a rating of 4.7 out of 5. The EUR Student Wellbeing Monitor shows that 62% of students are aware of the Student Living Room. The living room was located in the Aluhal tent on the campus and moved to an attractive, permanent location in the new Langeveld Building in November. Hosts are trained students who offer a listening ear and who can refer students on where necessary. 

Wellbeing and personal development were integrated into the new educational vision in 2022. Reaching out to students in the classroom is vital, on the one hand because the annual EUR Student Wellbeing Monitor shows that half of students experience above-average stress levels and mental health problems and, on the other hand, because wellbeing and personal development contribute to student success. Lecturers play a role here. That is why ‘Student wellbeing’ training is to be introduced for lecturers in all faculties in 2023. 

The Student Wellbeing programme will continue along the same path in 2023 while working in even closer cooperation with the faculties to ensure that more students take advantage of the wellbeing services on offer. There are plans to appoint a wellbeing officer within each faculty. The wellbeing officer will ultimately help to successfully implement activities within the faculties, such as the student wellbeing training for lecturers and tutors scheduled to take place in 2023.

The CLI supports the innovative capacity of lecturers within the theme ‘Professional development of lecturers’. Offering lecturers permanent, stimulating and inspiring training ensures that they are continuously improving the quality and innovation of their teaching. It also enables them to constantly adapt to social changes, new educational insights from academia and practice and new technological capabilities. 

Lecturers can take part in the standard programmes. These are the University Teaching Qualification (BKO), the Senior University Teaching Qualification (SKO) and the Educational Leadership Track (LOL). A total of 118 BKO certificates, 32 SKO certificates and 6 LOL certificates were issued in 2022. Microlabs were offered in addition to the standard programmes. These are short ‘how-to’ modules by EUR lecturers on specific educational issues. Over the course of 2022, 21 different microlabs were held on a total of 92 occasions and 378 lecturers took part. A University Examination Qualification (UEQ) certificate can be obtained by following three microlabs on assessment. Seven of these certificates were issued in 2022. One Senior Examination Qualification (STQ) certificate was issued. In addition to these training programmes, lecturers can also take inspiration from TeachEUR , which offers methods for active teaching. This digital tool contains 56 practical examples and is regularly supplemented with methods submitted by lecturers. 

Lecturers are invited to take part in the Community of Practice: Innovation Capacity of Lectures (CIC). This community explores ways of increasing the innovative capacity of lecturers. Where possible, the CIC works with faculties and other stakeholders to implement innovative work methods. The aim of the CIC is to make lecturers key figures in achieving the strategic goals relating to future-oriented education. The CIC also makes proposals on how lecturers’ tasks can be further differentiated and shared with parties such as coaches or education designers.

This ‘unbundling’ is made possible by the network of Learning Innovation consultants within the faculties and the support of the CLI and also offers technical solutions. The CIC specifies the support lecturers need at various stages of teaching (from design to assessment) and during various phases of their university career. 

A work group has also been set up to bring together policy and practice in relation to the professional development of lecturers. The policy stems from the Educational Vision and from Recognition and Rewards. The work group aims to make the facilities available to lecturers in the form of training and support even clearer and more accessible. The onboarding of new lecturers at EUR is in the process of being improved to ensure that they immediately know what is expected of them, where they can find information and where they can get help. The management information on the professional development of lecturers is also being improved. Through these activities, the CLI and its partners help to create a climate that encourages the continuing professional development of lecturers.

Preparations for projects in the context of ErasmusU_Online started in 2021. The Executive Board asked the CLI to develop this initiative as an integral part of Strategy 2024. ErasmusU_Online makes education more accessible by developing online programmes that supplement regular on-campus teaching in collaboration with the faculties. The programmes are aimed at students who cannot come to the campus, for example due to distance or the pressure of combining studies with work and family life. In the context of UNIC, the CLI also helps to develop online courses for Dutch and international students. They help to improve the quality of online teaching, increase accessibility and expand the options available to students. The courses also ensure a better balance between different ways of providing education (on campus, hybrid and online). 

September 2022 saw the launch of the first online Master’s programme: Psychology of the Digital Media. This is a full-time Master’s programme that is attended by 23 students. The experiences of students, lecturers and professional supporters with the online setting will be evaluated during the academic year. A second programme launched is the  pre-Master’s in Health Sciences programme, which is attended by 22 online students. Four courses are entirely online and eight courses are offered on a hybrid basis. The entire programme will also be available online in the next academic year, to allow students to choose. Other online pre-Master’s and Master’s programmes are being developed in order to gradually expand the online offering. 

Educational innovation projects within faculties 

In 2022, the CLI assisted the faculties with the implementation of 43 innovation projects. This largely occurred at the request of lecturers and the Learning Innovation teams that want to redesign a course component. A good example is the transition to Team Based Learning within ESSB. This new way of organising education is also inspiring for other faculties. The CLI therefore encourages knowledge sharing through networking events. Another example is the development of an operational framework for the awarding of Edubadges: digital proofs of knowledge and skills gained outside the normal courses. This makes it easier for students to share their knowledge and experience with employers and/or other educational institutions. The Vice Deans of Education have opted to use this instrument selectively for the purpose of recognising and rewarding additional activities of students and lecturers. 

The CLI also organised digitalisation projects in collaboration with EUR’s Erasmus Digitalisation & Information Services (EDIS) department. Work was carried out on four digitalisation projects in 2022. A major project was the experiment with hybrid lecture halls. This took place at the request of the faculties. The technical and practical support provided to lecturers has been improved on the basis of the experience gained. The decision has also been taken to continue the project under the heading ‘Future Learning Spaces’. Another example is the pooling of requests and initiatives for an E-portfolio that can be used for things like programmatic assessment. More examples of innovation and digitalisation projects can be found here. 

Co-creation with students is an important part of EUR’s innovative approach. Students-for-Studentsfacilitates the CLI initiatives to improve and supplement the teaching. A good example is LifeVersity. As part of this initiative, students organised online skills courses for students. In 2022 around two thousand students took part in courses in areas such as public speaking, leadership, wellbeing, creativity and innovation, and career development.

Lecturers who want to introduce and evaluate an educational innovation can take advantage of CLI fellowships. There are two rounds every year in which applications can be submitted. Following a positive decision, the CLI finances part of the lecturer’s salary so they are free one day a week to carry out their project. The fellow stays in touch with the CLI and the other fellows for the duration. They share examples, lessons and results with the community. A total of thirty CLI fellows were active in 2022. The research carried out by the fellows focuses mainly on online and blended education, student and lecturer motivation and wellbeing, and skills training.  

Two PhD students are also active with support from the CLI in the context of Erasmus Education Research. The first study is on ‘Intercultural Communication Competence and Global Citizenship in Higher Education’ and the second study has the title: ‘Lost in transition? Access and academic success of diverse students in higher education’.  

Through this research, EUR presents itself as a university that cares not only about the innovation of education, but also about the empirical evaluation of the effects of such innovations. Strengthening educational research helps to improve educational knowledge and therefore the quality of education at EUR. An interesting series of research lunches were organised under the guidance of an ambassador, in which both the CLI fellows and PhD students were actively involved and had the opportunity to present the progress or results of their work. Further information about the CLI fellows and researchers, their projects and results can be found here. 

An online knowledge platform has been developed with easy-to-apply best practices to give lecturers easy access to toolkits, guides and manuals on inclusive education and an inclusive classroom. 

Academic Outreach Programme 

In 2022, the Academic Outreach Programme ‘Onze Toekomst Verbinden’ (‘Connecting Our Future’) made substantial progress in promoting the accessibility of higher education. We developed an inclusive curriculum in co-creation with school leaders, lecturers, parents and pupils of ten partner schools. The programme established links with more than thirty organisations in the city, with which activities were developed to introduce children, young people and parents to the university, students and research in an accessible way. 

The activities at schools and in the city were largely carried out by students (role models). They received training on topics such as educational inequality, being a role model, educational theory and didactics. The positive impact of the programme is evident from the pupils’ reactions: “Miss, in seven years I’m coming to study here too. That’s a promise!”. 

2022 also saw the completion of the first four projects by staff and students that received financial support from the ‘Building New Blocks’ subsidy programme in 2020-2021. Two projects have now been institutionalised: the CARE education project, a minor, and the Dutch Caribbean Association (DCA), an official student association. EUR also launched the Soft Landing work group within the local network of secondary schools and higher education institutions in Rotterdam (VO-HO network). Together with this network, with input from students, EUR identifies the factors that promote a soft landing in higher education. 

Social safety/students

A safe learning environment for every student is essential. The prevention of sexual violence is also a key objective for EUR. In 2022, Amnesty International called on universities of applied sciences and research universities to sign a manifesto. EUR signed this manifesto and committed to the action points set out in the manifesto.

In addition to the university’s own ongoing plan, activities have included training and workshops on giving and requesting consent, and an awareness campaign has been launched on undesirable sexual behaviour, which has featured at events such as Eureka Week.

The new programmes Genomics in Society (research) and Master’s in Societal Transitions were accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) in 2022. Two post-initial Master’s programmes were discontinued: the Master’s in Ethics, Law and Healthcare and the Master’s in Commercial Private Law. The university-level Tinbergen Institute Research Master’s in Economics was converted into a joint degree. The education portfolio will be expanded further in 2023, including based on various collaborations with international partners. 

Positive decisions on educational quality accreditation

Fourteen programmes were reviewed and received a positive decision in 2022 in the context of external accreditation according to the NVAO assessment framework. 

Ensuring educational quality: interim evaluations

Eight programmes invited a panel to perform a peer review in the context of the interim programme evaluations. These evaluations are an integral part of quality assurance within EUR and help programmes to monitor the quality of education. Development-oriented recommendations also provide programmes with a point of departure. EUR’s working method for the interim programme evaluation has been reviewed and is to be developed further with a view to institutional accreditation. 

Evaluation of initiatives to improve educational quality

Based on EUR’s educational vision, faculties implement innovations on different themes in their education. These themes are linked to impact learning, students’ professional development, students’ wellbeing and the professionalisation of lecturers. A report by a panel of peers was published in early 2022. The panel recommended that the educational vision is further tightened up on three themes. Cross-faculty dialogues were held in late 2022 on the basis of this recommendation. The result was the tightening up of the educational vision. During three conferences, students, lecturers, policy officers and governors from all faculties discussed the importance of the Erasmian Values, Impact, and the Erasmian Classroom. These discussions provide input for the vision that will be finalised in 2023. 

Culture of quality

Faculty participation in cross-faculty dialogue is an important part of how EUR shapes its culture of quality. After all, this culture is characterised by ‘healthy conversations’. In addition to the semi-annual consultation between the Executive Board and the faculties, development-oriented learning takes place between the faculties within the ‘Communities of Practice’. These communities are led by academic leaders. The outcomes are shared with the leaders of the joint faculties.