Short news
The Abtswoudse Bridge in Delft will be closed to cyclists and pedestrians from Monday 29 June to Friday 28 August 2026 due to major maintenance work.
The bridge is an important transport link to and from the campus. Cyclists and pedestrians who normally use the bridge will be diverted via the Hambrug. The diversion route will be signposted with yellow signs.
The Province of South Holland is carrying out the maintenance to keep the bridge safe and in good condition. From Monday 22 June onwards, preparatory works along the Proosdijpad may already cause reduced access to the bridge at times.
Shipping and rowing traffic will also face restrictions. At various times, passage will be blocked or only partially possible.
- More information is available on the Province of South Holland website or via the BouwApp (in Dutch).
Eleven of the thirteen universities in the Netherlands are losing ground in the global rankings by research agency QS. The top ten is still dominated by British and American universities, with only ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the National University of Singapore, ranked eighth and tenth respectively, as exceptions.
Ten years ago, twelve Dutch universities were in the top 200; now only nine remain. TU Delft is currently ranked 48th instead of 47th—still one place higher than in 2024, when it was ranked 49th. Most other Dutch universities have also dropped in the rankings, with the exception of Leiden University, which has maintained its position, and VU Amsterdam, which performed slightly better this year.
That said, the Netherlands is still doing relatively well. Universities in other countries are simply making progress faster than Dutch institutions, according to the ranking’s creators, which causes the Netherlands to fall slightly overall.
Criticism of these rankings
The QS ranking considers factors such as a university’s reputation among academics, the proportion of international students and staff, and graduates’ performance in the job market. In recent years, sustainability has also been included, covering topics such as climate and social equality.
There is, however, regular criticism of these rankings: how can a single score be assigned to an entire university, with all its staff and students? For this reason, there are frequent calls to disregard such rankings. At the same time, others argue that these comparisons still say something about the global position of Dutch universities.
HOP, Naomi Bergshoeff/ Delta, Annebelle de Bruijn
Associate professor of psychology Yannick G. of Radboud University Nijmegen was found to have altered an invoice for participant compensation and was dismissed in 2025. After that, his scientific work came under scrutiny. One of his articles has since been retracted, and others are still under investigation.
G. was a striking figure, who, for example, appeared in a university profile photo wearing a royal robe and sitting on a throne, VOX writes (using his full name). Some PhD candidates in the department were fond of him; he entered into a relationship with one of them, while he came into conflict with another.
He denies the allegations of scientific fraud. However, university magazine VOX has now contacted his colleagues in Brussels and in Calgary, Canada, and there too he reportedly came into conflict. His former colleagues in Brussels once ended their collaboration with him, partly because G. would sometimes refuse to share data and then offer excuses. “He had forgotten, or his computer had crashed,” says a Flemish professor.
At the University of Calgary, he left under a confidentiality agreement. Nevertheless, according to anonymous sources, questions were also raised there about how G. handled research data. One anonymous former colleague told VOX: “It is time people find this out.” (HOP, BB)
Following two months of nighttime test runs, tram 19 has also been undergoing daytime testing on the campus since this week. Operator HTM is running trial runs on the new route between Delft station and the Van den Broekweg stop to check whether the line functions safely and reliably.
Until the end of June, the trams will run according to the future timetable, but still without passengers. The test runs take place on weekdays between 8:00 and 18:00. Traffic lights, stops, signals, switches and other systems along the route are being tested in the process. On a few days, trams will also run in the evening, so that the functioning of the systems in the dark can be checked.
For the first time in 22 years
The daytime tests follow the first nighttime test runs, which took place in early April. At that time, a tram ran across the campus for the first time, 22 years after the plans for the line were given the green light.
The arrival of tram 19 has a long history. Since the project was approved in 2004, construction has repeatedly been delayed. For instance, measures had to be taken to limit vibrations and electromagnetic radiation affecting sensitive research equipment. The Sint Sebastiaansbrug also turned out to be unsuitable for the new tram traffic and had to be replaced. In addition, part of the track had to be relaid after problems were discovered with an underground high-voltage cable.
If the current trial runs are successful, tram 19 should officially start running from the beginning of the coming academic year. It will then form a fast connection between Leidschendam, Delft station and the campus.
Fred van Keulen will continue as Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (ME). This has been decided by the Executive Board. Van Keulen started in this role in July 2022. His second term will commence next month and is set to run until November 2029.
Van Keulen has been affiliated with TU Delft since his student days. In 1987, he graduated with distinction in Mechanical Engineering at ME. Nine years later, he obtained his PhD at the same faculty, also with distinction. In 1999, he was appointed Professor of Structural Optimization and Mechanics. Since then, he has held various positions within the faculty.
Search for two other deans
The Executive Board is currently searching for two other deans. At Aerospace Engineering, Henri Werij will retire. He has served as dean since June 2017, and his farewell symposium will take place in November. The first round of interviews with potential successors will begin next week, according to the headhunter Wesselo’s website (in Dutch).
At Industrial Design Engineering, Dean Caspar Chorus announced in March that he will be stepping down. In a message from the Executive Board, he stated that after years in leadership roles, he feels the need to return to working more freely on academic content.
Chorus’s first term runs until the end of August 2026, but he will remain in post for the rest of the year to allow sufficient time to appoint a successor. The vacancy (in Dutch) will be open until 19 June. After stepping down, Chorus plans to take a sabbatical, after which he will return in September 2027 as a professor at Industrial Design Engineering.
There were serious concerns about the position of young people during the coronavirus crisis, senior official Mark Roscam Abbing said during his hearing in the House of Representatives. According to him, the negative consequences stemmed “not so much from the virus, but from the measures”.
Roscam Abbing was appointed in October 2020 as ‘Director-General Society Covid-19’. He was tasked with addressing the social and societal impact of the pandemic on society, and is one of many now being questioned by the parliamentary inquiry committee, which was established to look back on coronavirus policy and draw lessons for the future.
Avoiding contact
According to Roscam Abbing, the closure of educational institutions led to learning delays and social and psychological harm. “To curb the spread of the virus, you want to avoid contact, but young people in particular often have a great need for social interaction.”
During the curfew in 2021, research was conducted into the mental wellbeing of students. It found that two in three students felt emotionally exhausted. A quarter felt weary of life and had at times wished they would never wake up after falling asleep.
To mitigate the consequences of the lockdowns in education and research, the cabinet made €2.7 billion available. Nearly half of this sum was used to provide students with financial support. The remainder went to educational institutions. Last year, research showed that the coronavirus support funding had been put to good use. (HOP, NB)
The government must ensure that more non-self-contained housing for students is built, the House of Representatives believes. Two motions on this matter were passed almost unanimously.
Concerns have long existed that traditional student rooms are being squeezed out by studio flats. Because studios have their own kitchen, bathroom and toilet, landlords can charge higher rents. Students can offset the higher rent with housing benefit.
At the same time, the housing shortage among students remains acute, and having housemates is no bad thing. D66 is therefore calling on the government to make concrete commitments “on the number of non-self-contained housing units to be delivered for students”. The motion was co-signed by CDA and PRO.
Incentive
D66 and PRO also tabled a second motion. There is currently “no strong incentive” for the construction of non-self-contained units, the motion states, whereas this type of housing can accommodate more people and is also beneficial for residents’ mental health.
They are therefore asking the government to investigate how the construction of such housing could be made more attractive. Both motions were passed almost unanimously on Tuesday. Only JA21 voted against.
TU Delft professor Peter Boelhouwer (Architecture and the Built Environment), has previously argued that the government made a “policy error”. According to him, there are two options: either abolish housing benefit for studio flats (“but that would cause real hardship for students”) or extend housing benefit to cover rooms. Whether the government is willing to go in that direction remains to be seen. (HOP, NB)
The government must step up its efforts to combat racism and discrimination, according to the State Commission against Discrimination and Racism. Among other things, the commission recommends putting an end to data-driven profiling in the implementation of government tasks and services.
“Recent scandals have shown how deeply discrimination and racism can become ingrained in policy, algorithms and implementation practices,” writes (in Dutch) the commission. In this regard, it also refers to student financer DUO. Research (in Dutch) three years ago revealed that, in the investigation of fraud involving the basic grant for students living away from home, it was primarily students from migrant backgrounds who came under scrutiny.
This led to an apology from the government, the repayment of fines and compensation for the students who had been discriminated against. The state commission would rather prevent such problems than rectify them after the event.
Profiling
The government should therefore no longer use data-driven profiling. According to the commission, random spot checks or inspections without prior filtering reduce the risk of discrimination, are easier to justify and contribute to equal treatment and public trust.
And if the government does wish to assess who is a suspect? Then it must first demonstrate that the use of profiling is necessary and proportionate and assess whether there is no discriminatory effect.
DUO is indeed developing a new system to identify students who are misusing the basic grant for students living away from home. Education Minister Rianne Letschert has confirmed that this system will undergo an independent audit beforehand. (HOP, BB)
An educational team from Delft University of Technology has been nominated for the 2026 Dutch Education Awards alongside eight other teams from further education, higher professional education and university-level education. On 25 June, at the Comenius Festival in Nieuwegein, Education Minister Rianne Letschert will announce the top three winners within their respective sectors.
The Delft project ‘Robotics: I got it!’ makes technology accessible to students step by step, based on the MIRTE robot platform. This allows students to progress from simple construction and programming tasks to working on complex robotics projects.
The other nominees in the higher education category are teams from Leiden University and Erasmus MC. There, they developed e-learning modules on suicide prevention for psychology students and healthcare workers respectively, and innovated aspects such as assessment and evaluation within the medical training programme.
Theatre
In the higher professional education sector, the awards go to Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Inholland University of Applied Sciences. The teams developed a ‘digital education lab’, used theatre to make difficult topics discussable in the classroom, and are tackling student dropout rates in teacher training through a complete overhaul of the curriculum.
Since 2023, vocational education (MBO) has also been participating. This year, DC Terra, Koning Willem 1 College and Gilde Opleidingen have been nominated.
The Dutch Education Awards are presented annually to teams from universities of applied sciences, universities and vocational education institutions that have “developed an innovative educational initiative”.
A total of €2.5 million is available per sector. The winner receives €1.2 million, the runner-up €800,000 and the third-placed team €500,000. The teams can use this money to fund (future) projects focused on educational innovation. (HOP, NB)
In his student room in Groningen, a student has been producing equipment for the Ukrainian army for the past year and a half, according to the university magazine UKrant. He is doing this together with two fellow students.
Using a 3D printer, they are making drone parts and casings for explosives that Ukrainian soldiers can use. “The three of us have now printed more than seven thousand parts,” says the student.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, students across the Netherlands took action to support the country. For example, during their first campaign, the Delft Students for Ukraine collected a thousand boxes of aid supplies, which the Red Cross transported to Kyiv.
As well as drone parts and explosives, he and two fellow students are also making power banks from broken e-bike batteries. “This war is being held together by duct tape and voluntary work,” says the student. “I now know that, as an individual, you can definitely make a difference.”
It is unclear whether students are providing military support to Ukraine more frequently. “There are many people who are committed to the country,” says a staff member at Eyes on Ukraine, a non-profit organisation supporting Ukraine. “But we don’t know who is a student and who isn’t. Moreover, military support is not permitted, so I can’t comment on that.”
(HOP, NB)
