Boom and doom
Forty years ago, a highly controversial study warned that we had to curb growth or risk global meltdown. Was it right? At the beginning of the 1970s, a group of young scientists set out to explore our future.
Their findings shook a generation and may be even more relevant than ever today. Read more about this study at the New Scientist site. bit.ly/boomdoom
Valorisation prize
The Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter has awarded the FOM Valorisation Prize 2011 to Professor Pieter Kruit (AS). He received the prize, worth 250,000 euros, for his research in the area of electron and ion optics and for setting up companies that utilize these technologies.
Campus radio
A new radio station run by students and intended for students and staff of TU Delft and the polytechnics on campus started last month, when Campus Radio 1 hit the airwaves for the first time. The station’s first broadcast was on 22 December, featuring a one program, called Unicorn. A second broadcast on 12 January marked the start of a second radio program: Next Best, which featured one-hour of dance music. Campus Radio hopes that more programs will follow. Students and staff can submit proposals, and if accepted, they can start broadcasting. The student radio broadcasters hope that international students will also submit ideas. www.campusradio1.nl
Dat blijkt uit de evaluatie van de educatieve minor, die in opdracht van universiteitenvereniging VSNU werd gemaakt. Sinds vorig collegejaar kunnen universitaire studenten tijdens hun bacheloropleiding een lesbevoegdheid halen. Afgestudeerde bachelors die de zes maanden durende minor hebben gevolgd, mogen lesgeven in de theoretische leerroute van het vmbo en in de onderbouw van havo en vwo.
Minister Van Bijsterveldt voerde toen ze nog staatssecretaris was de minor in om het lerarentekort te bestrijden en meer academici voor de klas te krijgen.
De studenten zijn vooral positief over het praktijkdeel van de minor. De meesten denken dat ze genoeg geleerd hebben om aan de slag te kunnen als docent. Wel had het lesgeven aan vmbo-leerlingen meer aandacht mogen krijgen.
De praktijkbegeleiders zijn iets kritischer. Veertig procent van de begeleiders vindt dat het niveau van de afgestudeerden lager is dan dat van beginnende tweedegraads docenten. De vakinhoudelijke kennis van de studenten is goed, maar didactisch valt er ‘nog wel wat winst te behalen’.
De zorg dat minorstudenten tweedegraadsdocenten gaan verdringen op de arbeidsmarkt lijkt dan ook niet gegrond, stellen de onderzoekers. De meeste scholen kiezen toch liever voor die laatsten omdat ze minder begeleiding nodig hebben.
Niettemin scoren de studenten van de educatieve minor meestal ‘voldoende’ tot ‘goed’ op de wettelijke eisen die aan leraren worden gesteld, en zijn de meeste scholen bereid om hun stagiairs na de minor aan te nemen als docent.
Of er door de minor ook meer eerstegraads docenten zullen komen, kunnen de onderzoekers nog niet zeggen. Wel geeft een derde van de minorstudenten aan dat zij na een vakinhoudelijke master ook nog de eerstegraads lerarenopleiding willen volgen.
In 2009 begonnen 191 studenten bij negen universiteiten aan de educatieve minor, in 2010 waren dat er 330 bij elf instellingen. De meesten zijn derdejaars bachelorstudenten, en ze zijn relatief vaak vrouw.
Lowlands festival
In August 2012, TU Delft will make its third appearance at Llowlab, the sustainable innovation island at the Lowlands music festival (17-19 August). TU Delft and other knowledge institutions will present their sustainable innovations to 55,000 festival goers. Llowlab is a great opportunity for researchers and high-tech start-ups to carry out practical research, to test new products or to present their products to a wide public. If you are a researcher or high-tech start-up with a design, idea or product for Llowlab, contact Gertjan de Werk (g.dewerk@tudelft.nl) or Gijs Houwen (g.c.houwen@tudelft.nl).
Floppy tower
Staff and students are invited to attend the unveiling of the floppy tower on Thursday, 26 January, at 18:30, on the square outside the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE). The floppy tower is a work of art and a landmark for all who behold it. At first glance it looks like any other tower, but when the wind blows the tower moves back and forth. Wim Schermer and a team of students constructed the tower from nine cube-shaped segments.
Decentralized admissions
This week the Aerospace Engineering faculty began its decentralized selection of international first-year students. Applications from international students were evaluated according to four aspects: motivation to study aerospace engineering; the reasons for specifically wanting to come to the Netherlands and attend TU Delft; indications that they are capable of living abroad; and the candidate’s academic performance. As of 8 January, 135 international students had applied for 88 places open to internationals among the 440 first-year BSc students who will be accepted for the coming academic year.
Best football club
Taurus, a student football club within the Virgiel student society, has been chosen as Football Club of 2011 in the category for Dutch amateur football clubs. Vitesse was judged the best among the Netherlands’ professional clubs.
Clubs were not judged according to on-field performance but rather on the
atmosphere within the club, management, facilities and approach to the game.
Business studies
Government should support important academic programmes and discourage those that do not contribute to economic growth, according to a letter business representatives sent to Dutch Minister of innovation. These business leaders argue that the Netherlands cannot persist in thinking that all academic fields contribute in the same degree to the labor market and prosperity. Technical studies deserve preferential treatment, they argue. Unimportant studies should be discouraged by means of selective admissions procedures, differing tuition fees and a cap on student enrollment.
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