Niels Stensen Fellowship Conference 2022 - The Future of University Education
This year, September 1st, we were very happy to be able to welcome all participants to the 2022 Niels Stensen Conference in person rather than online. It was clear we all enjoyed exchanging thoughts on the future of university education while looking each other in the eye and sharing good food and drinks at Antropia in Driebergen-Zeist.
Professor Han van Krieken, Rector Magnificus Radboud University Nijmegen and Chair of the Niels Stensen Committee, opened the conference. He referred to increasing numbers of students and tensions between teaching and research. He also described other current challenges in the academic world as well as the many opportunities for improvement that we would be discussing later in the conference.
To anchor our reflections, Professor Paul van Tongeren, “Denker des Vaderlands" (Thinker of the Motherland), provided us with some fundamental thoughts for the day.
In his own unconventional way, Aape Pohjavirta, Founder and President of Funzi, a mobile learning service, drove home the urgency for systemic change in education. He particularly highlighted the role of technology in reaching and developing talent all over the world, especially in the Global South.
We subsequently discussed “the value of teaching” in a panel discussion with Aape Pohjavirta, Jos de Jonge , former Coordinator Rathenau Institute, Professor Sofia Ranchordas, Faculty of Law, University of Groningen and NSF alumna, and Cor Zonneveld PhD, Biology, Amsterdam University College.
Zooming in on more specific challenges and opportunities in higher education, participants attended five workshops:
- Woke and Cancel Culture, by Cor Zonneveld, PhD, Biology, Amsterdam University College
- Critical Thinking, by Professor Ingrid d’Hooghe, Clingendael Institute and Leiden Asia Centre
- Lessons from COVID, by Tessa Rombouts and Jasper Engelbert, Turner Consultancy
- Blended Learning Solutions, by Jan Nedermeijer MSc, former head of the Department of Higher Education of ICLON, University of Leiden
- Equality of Opportunity, by Merlijn Karssen, senior researcher at the Kohnstamm Institute.
We closed the conference with music, drinks and a Dutch language dinner speech “De verengelsing van het academisch onderwijs (The anglicisation of academic education),” by professor Maaike van der Lugt, medieval history at the UVSQ - Université Paris Saclay and NSF alumna.
Mark your calendars: Our next NSF conference will take place on Thursday 31 August 2023.
