{"id":134968,"date":"2022-01-20T13:01:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T12:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=134968"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:05","slug":"art-academies-willem-de-kooning-and-codarts-aim-for-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/01\/20\/art-academies-willem-de-kooning-and-codarts-aim-for-merger\/","title":{"rendered":"Art academies Willem de Kooning and Codarts aim for merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willem de Kooning and Codarts aim to merge to form a new Rotterdam university of the arts, with participation of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Administrators from the two academies, as well as from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and Erasmus University, signed a declaration of intent on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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Students pose at the site where the new university is to rise.<\/span><\/p>

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The intention is to organise the new institution as an association with its own Executive Board and staff, but with Erasmus University and the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences as members. Om the next few months, the institutions will explore how to arrange the organisation, the operation and the legal entity of the new institution. The institution is supposed to be housed on the new Cultuur&Campus<\/em> in Rotterdam-South.<\/p>\n

Willem de Kooning Academie is a visual arts and design academy while Codarts offers education in music, dance and circus. Erasmus University and the two academies have already been cooperating in the dual degree programme Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab (RASL) since 2015.<\/p>\n

Groundbreaking<\/h2>

\u201cThis is very important for our strategy, as well as for Rotterdam. We are establishing a groundbreaking artistic knowledge institute\u201d, stated EUR Executive Board chairperson, Ed Brinksma.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the Delft and Erasmus MC convergence and cooperation with Leiden, this is yet another boost to our commitment to multi-disciplinary education. Design thinking and creativity in designing for social solutions is very important for our social sciences, for example. We also want to engage stakeholders in Rotterdam-South and young people in our education and research, and art and music are a huge attraction for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something permanent<\/h2>

Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens, professor at EUR and lecturer and member of the Academic Board at RASL, is also delighted with the new development. \u201cThere are practical advantages, such as the harmonisation of systems, but the most important thing is that this really establishes the partnership, as this will ensure that its success is no longer dependent on enthusiastic lecturers, researchers or administrators, but it also becomes something permanent. We also have the time to create something now, so that we don\u2019t just occupy a new building but can also offer real added value.\u201d<\/p>\n

If everything goes according to schedule with the accreditation, Brinksma is expecting that the new university of the arts will be able to welcome its first students in September 2023. Ultimately, the new university of the arts should become part of the new Cultuur&Campus<\/em> in Rotterdam-Zuid. This is planned to open in around six years on Charloisse Hoofd, close to the Maastunnel entrance. Brinksma is reluctant to give an exact date, considering the range of issues that are still emerging relating to the development of the site and the many changes in education as a result of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\t

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