News in brief

The Veni grants were awarded to 96 researchers across the country who have recently obtained their PhDs. The three TU Delft grant winners are: Frederik Creemer, Jessica Kroeze and Johan Pouwelse. NWO also awarded Vici grants to two more experienced TU Delft researchers: Herre van der Zant and Wiro Niessen. Each Veni researcher receives a grant up to 200,000 euros for conducting research over a period of three years.
Lacking skills

A recent study of literacy rates found that most university college students in the United States cannot handle many complex but common tasks, such as understanding credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees and comparing the cost per ounce of food. More than 50 percent of students at four-year universities and more than 75 percent of students at two-year colleges lacked the skills necessary to perform complex literacy tasks. This means they could not interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school. The results cut across three types of literacy: analyzing news stories and other prose, understanding documents and having math skills needed for checkbooks or restaurant tips. “It is kind of disturbing that a lot of folks are graduating with a degree and they’re not going to be able to do those things,” said Stephane Baldi, the study’s director at the American Institutes for Research, a behavioral and social science research organization.
Concert

A special concert ‘L’homme arme . War as muse’ will be performed in Delft this weekend by the world famous Ensemble Polyfoon and Warre Borgmans. This unique (cross-over) project is a production in which music by the Belgian ensemble Polyfoon is blended with theater performances and images of war, which shows how war is not only destructive but also always renewing and creative. The concert is on Saturday January 28 in the Waalse Kerk, Oude Delft 179-181, starting at 20:15.
Business plan

The student board and student sports federation DSSF is using emails, flyers and meetings in order to generate interest among students in the business plan for the sport and culture center. Both organizations hope many students will attend the workshops for the business plan, which will be held on February 21 and February 28. The workshops are especially intended for students who want to discuss the daily workings and prices of the centers. The DSSF will submit its findings to TU Delft’s Executive Board
Spearhead

Countries such as the Netherlands that follow a ‘spearhead policy’ are less effective than those countries that pursue broader innovation policies. This is the conclusion of researchers at the European Commission, who published their findings in the Innovation Index. In a barometer gauging innovation, the Netherlands was above average in terms of innovation in the European Union. But the Netherlands remains far behind countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Germany. The Netherlands ranked seventh, tied with the United Kingdom, but behind Belgium and Austria.
Internships

The internship supervision in higher education must still be improved, according to a study by the student organization, ISO. More that a quarter of the one thousand students surveyed by the ISO did not meet with their internship supervisors before beginning their internships. And more than 60 percent of the students only spoke to their internship supervisors once. Less than a quarter of the students said they were positive about the assistance they received from their faculties. However, most students did say they were satisfied with their internships. “70 to 80 percent of the students were positive about their internships,” said ISO chairperson Evelien van Roemburg. “But doing an internship is primarily meant to compliment your education and has less to do with gaining relevant work experience. Because so few students were satisfied with the academic aspect of their internships, the question is how many of these positive reactions are actually justified.” The ISO wants Dutch Undersecretary of Education Mark Rutte to investigate the matter further.

Veni grants

Three TU Delft researchers have received Veni grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The Veni grants were awarded to 96 researchers across the country who have recently obtained their PhDs. The three TU Delft grant winners are: Frederik Creemer, Jessica Kroeze and Johan Pouwelse. NWO also awarded Vici grants to two more experienced TU Delft researchers: Herre van der Zant and Wiro Niessen. Each Veni researcher receives a grant up to 200,000 euros for conducting research over a period of three years.
Lacking skills

A recent study of literacy rates found that most university college students in the United States cannot handle many complex but common tasks, such as understanding credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees and comparing the cost per ounce of food. More than 50 percent of students at four-year universities and more than 75 percent of students at two-year colleges lacked the skills necessary to perform complex literacy tasks. This means they could not interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school. The results cut across three types of literacy: analyzing news stories and other prose, understanding documents and having math skills needed for checkbooks or restaurant tips. “It is kind of disturbing that a lot of folks are graduating with a degree and they’re not going to be able to do those things,” said Stephane Baldi, the study’s director at the American Institutes for Research, a behavioral and social science research organization.
Concert

A special concert ‘L’homme arme . War as muse’ will be performed in Delft this weekend by the world famous Ensemble Polyfoon and Warre Borgmans. This unique (cross-over) project is a production in which music by the Belgian ensemble Polyfoon is blended with theater performances and images of war, which shows how war is not only destructive but also always renewing and creative. The concert is on Saturday January 28 in the Waalse Kerk, Oude Delft 179-181, starting at 20:15.
Business plan

The student board and student sports federation DSSF is using emails, flyers and meetings in order to generate interest among students in the business plan for the sport and culture center. Both organizations hope many students will attend the workshops for the business plan, which will be held on February 21 and February 28. The workshops are especially intended for students who want to discuss the daily workings and prices of the centers. The DSSF will submit its findings to TU Delft’s Executive Board
Spearhead

Countries such as the Netherlands that follow a ‘spearhead policy’ are less effective than those countries that pursue broader innovation policies. This is the conclusion of researchers at the European Commission, who published their findings in the Innovation Index. In a barometer gauging innovation, the Netherlands was above average in terms of innovation in the European Union. But the Netherlands remains far behind countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and Germany. The Netherlands ranked seventh, tied with the United Kingdom, but behind Belgium and Austria.
Internships

The internship supervision in higher education must still be improved, according to a study by the student organization, ISO. More that a quarter of the one thousand students surveyed by the ISO did not meet with their internship supervisors before beginning their internships. And more than 60 percent of the students only spoke to their internship supervisors once. Less than a quarter of the students said they were positive about the assistance they received from their faculties. However, most students did say they were satisfied with their internships. “70 to 80 percent of the students were positive about their internships,” said ISO chairperson Evelien van Roemburg. “But doing an internship is primarily meant to compliment your education and has less to do with gaining relevant work experience. Because so few students were satisfied with the academic aspect of their internships, the question is how many of these positive reactions are actually justified.” The ISO wants Dutch Undersecretary of Education Mark Rutte to investigate the matter further.