Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences

As Wittenborg’s academic school year came to a close this week, its faculty members came together for an informal teachers pedagogy strategies meeting. The main aim of the meeting is to gather teachers' reflections and to have open discussions on teaching and learning, one year into the pandemic. The event was held on Wednesday, 7 July, via hybrid mode at its Spoorstraat campus and MS Teams. The meeting was attended by lecturers from all of its four campuses, in Apeldoorn, Amsterdam, Munich (Germany) and Bad Voslau (Austria).

An Australian study has found that teaching students in "blocks" - as at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences since 2006 - improves students' results significantly. The study was done at Victoria University and came out a few months ago. The method involves teaching units sequentially in blocks of several weeks instead of delivering multiple subjects simultaneously in semesters.

From next year, students at universities of applied sciences will be able to pursue a Professional Doctorate (PD) after completing their master's. Up until now, furthering their academic studies after a master's by way of a PhD has only been available to students at research universities.

High on the agenda at Wittenborg's annual Students and Staff Conference held online this year was mental health issues as a side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff policy around working from home and how the pandemic is shaping the future of education. Proposals emanating from the conference will be presented in a report to management next.

Looking back and looking forward - Peter Birdsall, President of the Executive Board of Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences
Today is the last day of January 2021, and although this year has started during a stranger period than any of us have experienced until now, the year brings a sense of hope and excitement as we start to move into new pastures. This year’s annual New Year’s dinners, parties and speeches have not been given in the same way as usual; however, it remains important that we take a brief moment to look back at the achievements of last year and especially forward to the next eleven twelfths of this year.

The President of Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, Peter Birdsall, says he is optimistic that the institution can attain at least 60% of its usual September intake of new students despite COVID-19. Birdsall made the remarks in an interview with Dutch daily, De Stentor, along with Wittenborg CEO Maggie Feng. Flight restrictions still hamper free travel in many countries and a lot remains uncertain.

From 2nd June Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences will cautiously reopen all its locations in the Netherlands for appointment-only meetings and for students who wish to use its library or internet facilities. This follows a gradual ease in COVID-19 restrictions announced by the Dutch government Wednesday evening. Students and staff are strongly cautioned to adhere to those regulations that will remain in place such keeping a distance of 1.5m and newly issued ones like wearing a mask when using public transport.

Congratulations to Wittenborg students for completing the first full week of online delivery of their bachelor's or master's degrees. Congratulations to Wittenborg teachers for doing something they weren’t prepared for, and making it happen. Congratulations to Wittenborg staff teams who have been working around the clock this past week.

Wittenborg CEO, Maggie Feng, was the guest on BNR Radio Talk Show "Groeihelden" this week where she talked about how the organisation maintains growth in a highly competitive education sector.

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences will ask the Dutch Ministry of Education to exempt private institutions from proposed changes to the Higher Education Act, which will require them to maintain a strict policy justifying their choice to teach in English rather than Dutch.