{"id":115391,"date":"2020-07-02T14:26:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T12:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=115391"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:59","slug":"review-tv-show-about-new-strategy-lacks-critical-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/07\/02\/review-tv-show-about-new-strategy-lacks-critical-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: TV show about new strategy lacks critical questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erasmus University presented its strategy for the coming years in a live TV show on Tuesday. EM<\/em> asked former TV critic for the Volkskrant and freelance journalist Wim de Jong<\/strong> to review the program.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWim de Jong<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Rather exciting news for all Rotterdam residents who do not work or study at EUR! The university is coming to them. The university\u2019s Executive Board has rolled up its shirt sleeves and has made all the preparations. And everyone\u2019s on the same page. Go west, young (wo)man<\/em>, is the task for students until at least 2024. Cross Honingerdijk and Oostzeedijk on the Swapfiets and investigate how, as prospective scientist, you can be of service to your co-residents in the rest of the city.<\/p>\n

The torch of the new faith was officially lit on Strategy Live<\/em>, a direct TV broadcast from the Media Support Centre on campus. Among those seated around the studio table were Rector Magnificus Rutger Engels, Online Education Programme Manager Farshida Zafar, Professor of Behavioural Sciences Semiha Denktas, Entrepreneur and Chair of Erasmus Trust Fund Michiel Muller, Director Strategy Noor Lourens and Deputy Mayor Michiel Grauss (Christian Union\/SGP), who has poverty eradication in his portfolio.<\/p>\n

Holy flame<\/h2>

The holy flame was already held high in that company. Core concepts such as the Executive Board\u2019s policy vision announced in \u2018the Erasmian way<\/em>\u2019: social involvement, seeking connections, building bridges, entering neighbourhoods, making impact, proposing solutions; in short: deeds instead of words. Because, as Noor Lourens said: \u2018in the end something really needs to fly\u2019 to create the connection between the university and the city. Silly but true: every time this metaphor was used in the hour-and-a-quarter-long broadcast, a loud bluebottle also simultaneously took flight in the Media Support Centre.<\/p>\n

The group session couldn\u2019t emphasise strongly enough that, certainly in Rotterdam, \u2018truly the poorest municipality in the Netherlands\u2019, young researchers and professors have got a huge amount of work to do. During the warm-up, group facilitator Jet Sol noticed all the \u2018happy people\u2019, \u2018pride\u2019, \u2018dynamism\u2019 and \u2018excited faces\u2019 of exhilaration among the distinguished participants. After all, a \u2018dashboard of opportunities\u2019 is awaiting first-year and more advanced students to make themselves useful locally with their engagement, effort and knowledge.<\/p>\n

Semiha Denktas mentioned a \u2018stress reduction project\u2019 among women in Crooswijk (\u2018with less smoking as by-product\u2019) that was initiated partly by EUR. Michiel Muller saw tremendous opportunities in the city for a cohort of business administration students who no longer aim for a career at Shell or Unilever per se, but aim to make the difference with innovative start-ups. On Strategy Live, Farshida Zafar already started thinking aloud about a Mindcraft-like community that her students could build for the whole of Rotterdam. In the crises we\u2019ll be facing after the coronavirus, we\u2019ll still at least have virtual places where we can continue to meet each other.<\/p>\n

At home in the province with mum and dad<\/h2>

Wow, concluded this outsider at the end of the talkshow, still extremely surprised: maybe something will really come of this. That Rotterdam will become a vibrant student city, just like Amsterdam, Nijmegen, Groningen and Utrecht, for instance. With a similar cultural and intellectual climate and, moving forward, also with a significant dose of the hands-on mentality we collectively ascribe to ourselves. It could, in any event for me, remove the impression that the majority of EUR students still live at home in the province with mum and dad and \u2018after uni\u2019 have little or nothing to do with Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

During the TV broadcast, Jet Sol briefly touched on \u2018the pain\u2019 the EUR community could perhaps feel in other respects now that the university management has decided that everyone suddenly needs to get out onto the streets, bringing an end to the splendid isolation of the lab and lecture hall. Although Rutger Engels confirmed that there was certainly some resistance, particularly among professors, on Strategy Live it was not clear how this resistance is surfacing and how it will be dealt with. Just one comment on this from the Rector Magnificus was enough for the topic to \u2018take flight\u2019 outside when the words had just left his lips.<\/p>\n

In this respect, it\u2019s a pity that the live broadcast was for internal consumption and only included advocates of the announced changes. An educational institution that wants to enter society with an \u2018excited face\u2019 will certainly benefit if all the pros and cons of such a step have been well presented right from the start. For example in a talkshow with a heavyweight as anchor, and with a few critical questioners around the table from EUR. The university already has a professional TV studio. Perhaps now is the time to utilise the journalistic impact of this.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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