New institutional plan has to make Windesheim’s mission clearer
- The Executive Board presents a concept plan for the institutional plan.
- More attention to be paid to inclusivity and sustainability, less to be paid for entrepreneurship.
Adding to ‘an inclusive and sustainable society’. That is how Windesheim’s new mission is described in the concept institutional plan. What does it exactly mean? An interview with Chairman of the Executive Board Henk Hagoort.
What does sustainability mean for education?
‘The term sustainability in our mission is not about what we do but the why. We want to add to an inclusive and sustainable society. For me this means that we educate students that they are a valued addition to society. Lecturers should be able to tell students on how they can pay a contribution to the liveability of the earth. I think that we as Executive Board will challenge the study programmes on this aspect.
A task which seems to have been disappeared, is entrepreneurship.
‘When you are talking about education, research and entrepreneurship – you suggest that entrepreneurship is part of the primary process of what we are doing here. For me the primary process is education and research. In my opinion we have to examine existing budgetary plans. Windesheim’s aim was to get 15% of the budget from entrepreneurship. I would rather formulate our aims more qualitatively. Entrepreneurship will still be an important aspect of the process.’
And now the research. That also has to be a contribution to an inclusive and sustainable society. Aren’t you afraid that the ties with education will be loosened again?
“The professors and lecturers I have spoken to all agreed that education and research should be more intertwined. I think you can achieve that by focussing the research on societal issues that relate to the educational curriculum. So projects will come out in which professors, lecturers and students can work together. We have to prevent the problem that there might be uncertainty between professors and lecturers about what it is going to be: ‘who is making the decisions’. It doesn’t have to become a power struggle.” (MH)
