A University of the Future Experience

What is TU/e innovation Space?

TU/e innovation Space is the center of expertise for Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) and student entrepreneurship at TU/e, a learning hub for education innovation and an open community where students, researchers, industry, and societal organizations can exchange knowledge and develop responsible solutions to real world-challenges. In 2021 TU/e innovation Space won the 1st Dutch higher education award. In close consultation with the Executive Board and the Deans Bachelor College and Graduate School of TU/e, innovation Space initiated the ‘University of the Future’ project with the prize money.

Why is change needed?

When looking at the engineering education of today and the road forward, it is generally agreed that students need more than just disciplinary knowledge to be prepared to handle the societal challenges of the future. They need transdisciplinary skills, to know how to collaborate with each other, and how to communicate with other disciplines. Besides this, it is widely supported that there should be a more intensive connection to the ecosystems around the university, collaboration with experts from industry, and personalized learning paths in a diverse, inclusive, and accessible learning environment. Universities are an increasingly important player in innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. However, the structure of the university is not adapted to this new role. In order to realize strategic partnerships with external parties, and to be able to innovate within the university, the university also has to perform internal institutional transformations. To educate the engineers of the future, TU/e envisions to create a university where students, educators, researchers, and (industry) partners work and learn together as a life-long practice.

The University of the Future

In the University of the Future project we envision and concretize this TU/e of 2050. There are a lot of questions to be answered. What will the university of 2050 actually look like in concrete terms? How will this future university be operationalized? What will the educational journey look like? How do students acquire their essential competences? How do we define the university's 'boundaries' in the context of the larger ecosystem? These are some examples of the questions that the project aims to answer. Three different perspectives are taken into account in this project: student learning, the university as an organization, and the collaboration in the ecosystem. In this project co-creation with stakeholders from in and outside TU/e, to capture the ideas of a wide range of relevant parties, is key. The perspectives of (inter)national peers and partners are valuable in this and provides the opportunity for all involved to learn from each other's initiatives, ideas, and visions and provides stakeholders the opportunity to be part of this visionary exploration which aims to shape the future of the academic world.