660 new study spaces in the Education Centre of Erasmus MC

The programmes at Erasmus MC now have six hundred additional study spaces and sixty new workspaces. As of this week, students can make use of these spaces. This expansion comes at an opportune time: with a new curriculum and the start of renovations following last year’s fire, the extra spaces are much needed.

The area still smells new, and not everything is completely finished yet. However, students are already welcome to work in the newest part of the Education Centre. Located just a few doors away from the ‘older’ section in the middle of the hospital, you can reach it easily by walking along the white balcony. The corner with a food and drink outlet is still closed, and some audiovisual equipment in certain rooms still needs attention. “But it’s already looking fantastic”, says Leen Blok, senior policy adviser for education at Erasmus MC. In the fourteen educational spaces, which together offer six hundred tables and chairs, students and staff will eventually be able to work in a fully hybrid way. The largest new room can accommodate a hundred people, while the smallest holds 24.

Outside these rooms, there are also sixty workspaces, spread out along the corridors. These can be used for solo study or group work. The latter will become more common with the launch of Erasmus Physician 2030, the new curriculum. This curriculum is more project-based, requiring more collaboration. “We have a system that allows students to check whether an educational space is in use at that moment or will be free later that day for group work”, Blok explains.

Soon after the Education Centre opened in 2011, there was a desire to bring education in building GK, located next to the entrance of the Dijkzigt metro station, closer. “About four years ago, we started discussing this space”, says Blok. “We’re still working on the plans for phases two and three. In GK, most of the education currently focuses on clinical skills for Medicine students, such as practising physical examinations and learning how to communicate with patients. These educational spaces may be added in phase three, potentially between the ‘older’ and this newer part of the Education Centre. We hope to complete that by the summer of 2028.” Phase two will partly involve the so-called simulation street, where paramedical staff from across the Netherlands can come for additional training.

Construction plans for the coming years

Not far from the new section, renovation work has just begun. This was necessary after last year’s fire, set by Fouad L. on 28 September. In the attack by the medical student, a lecturer in the GK building was killed, and the fire was started in this corner of the Education Centre. For the past few months, a large plastic curtain featuring an artwork has been covering the damaged area. Restoration work will continue until the summer of 2025, meaning some educational spaces will be inaccessible from time to time.

Blok notes that the timing of the completion of the new section coinciding with the start of the renovation is purely coincidental. “The work ran significantly behind schedule, but it turned out well. For the time being, we now have more study spaces than we need, which is particularly useful given the renovation.”

In the coming years, work will be carried out on the site of the old Dijkzigt building on ’s-Gravendijkwal, where a new research tower is being built. The ground is currently vacant. The tower, with the project name SPOT (‘Sophia, Psychiatry, Research & Education in the Future’), will likely also house educational spaces, including those for anatomy lessons and for the Nanobiology programme.