(AGENPARL) – ENSCHEDE (NL) gio 30 giugno 2022

A technical bachelor programme where design and technology come together and where a vwo student is also admissible without a technical profile. As of academic year 2023-2024, this is possible at the VU Amsterdam. This week, the technical bachelor programme Creative Technology is officially approved by the Committee for Marco-efficiency in Higher Education and will also be offered at VU Amsterdam.

Since 2019, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and the University of Twente (UT) have been working together to put technical university programmes on the map in the Randstad conurbation and to offer a solution to the structural shortage of technical professionals. By offering technical academic education in this region as well, the VU and UT hope to motivate more pre-university students to apply for technology. “In the regions with a technical university, almost twice as many vwo students as vwo students in the Amsterdam region apply for a technical bachelor programme. This leaves a lot of technical talent unused,” says VU president Mirjam van Praag.

The universities hope to change this with the versatile bachelor Creative Technology. For example, Creative Technology in Twente also appears to appeal to many female students. This programme is also accessible to vwo students without a technical profile. Moreover, with a degree in Creative Technology, students are also eligible for a technical master’s programme. ” Even with a less technical profile you can become an engineer, due to a thorough assembly programme. Because we admit all profiles, you get an interesting mix of students, which usually results in many wonderful new insights”,,” says Alma Schaafstal, programme director Creative Technology.

Van Praag is enthusiastic about the new programme that will be added to the collaboration with Twente. “The programme is really the best of both worlds at VU and UT. A technical bachelor programme where design and technical solutions for today’s societal challenges come together.”  Since 2010, the programme has been offered at the UT. The unique multidisciplinary nature of the programme and the international learning environment in which intercultural, creative, technical and professional skills are developed previously resulted in the prestigious ECA Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation. Programme director Schaafstal: “We are extremely proud that we can now also offer this in Amsterdam. Although all students eventually receive the same diploma, the two branches will give their own color to the programme. In Amsterdam this will be more about the input of the humanities, in Twente the embedding in the technical environment will leave its mark on the programme.”

Both universities have already indicated that they want to further expand their cooperation in the future. In June, the first fruits will be reaped from the collaboration with the first group of students who graduate from the UT bachelor’s programme at the VU: Mechanical Engineering. 

More information

More information about the ambitions and those involved in the education and research activities can be found at http://www.vu-utwente.nl.

Fonte/Source: https://www.utwente.nl/en/news/2022/6/696427/uts-creative-technology-programme-now-also-at-vu-amsterdam