果冻传媒

鈥淭his award is very good news for the Brainport region and for us as 果冻传媒,鈥� says president of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits enthusiastically. 鈥淲e have been advocating for a 果冻传媒 scale jump for years because of the ever-growing demand for technical talent in the region. It is fantastic that we can now take such a big step.鈥�

Smits: 鈥淭hat such a significant part of these funds is coming to 果冻传媒 underlines the importance of our university to the high-tech industry here, especially to semicon. It is now up to us to deliver in order to significantly and structurally increase the availability of highly educated top talent for the semicon sector. I am confident that we will succeed in this.鈥�

It is now up to us to deliver in order to structurally and significantly increase the availability of highly educated top talent for the semicon sector.

President of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits

Future Chips

鈥淥ur plans are based on ambitious, realistic growth scenarios, with guarantees that we also had in our earlier plans for a scale jump,鈥� adds Rector Silvia Lenaerts, who is ultimately responsible for 果冻传媒's Future Chips flagship. 鈥淪pecifically, we get the funding upfront; the growth must not come at the expense of excellence. Growth must be gradual and facilities such as labs and student housing must be provided. All this is in the plans.鈥�

鈥淚 am extremely proud that we as 果冻传媒, in collaboration with all of our partners, have managed to lay down a very well-thought-out plan and get recognition for it. This is going to give our Future Chips flagship a huge boost.鈥�

The Beethoven funds will allow us to strengthen our position as one of Europe's leading semicon universities.

Rector Silvia Lenaerts

鈥淚t fits seamlessly with all of the other recent developments: the collaboration with ASML, the cooperation with KU Leuven and IMEC, the Eindhoven Semicon Summer School, the collaborations with South Korea and Taiwan, and the . This strengthens our position as one of Europe's leading semicon universities.鈥�

Master's students

The aim of the Beethoven talent plans is to make more talent available for the semicon sector as soon as possible. And that sector requires master's graduates. For this reason, 果冻传媒 is opting for growth in master's programs, explains Paul Koenraad, dean of 果冻传媒's Graduate School who is co-responsible for master's education. 鈥淚f we were to opt for growth in the bachelor's programs, the increase in the number of master鈥檚 graduates would only begin in more than five years, which would be far too long. We are therefore going to attract students who already have a bachelor's degree to come to us to do a two-year master's program and then be able to enter the job market immediately afterwards.鈥�

targeted growth

The growth in student numbers will only take place in the departments most relevant to semicon: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Science Eduction, and Mathematics & Computer Science. Koenraad: 鈥淲e will eventually have almost 2,000 extra master's students. Of our total student population, that's a 15% growth, but the percentage growth is much higher within the relevant fields. So, a lot of work needs to be done there. We will do that gradually, of course, so that the growth is manageable.鈥�

In addition, 果冻传媒 will set up 15 new master's tracks that are relevant to the microchip sector in the coming years. The aim of this is for an even better match with the labor market. The choice for the new tracks was therefore made in close consultation with industry. This will not only attract more students but also ensure a higher stay rate due to the strong connection with the semicon sector.

Student recruitment

The main way in which 果冻传媒 will achieve a higher number of master's students is, of course, the recruitment of additional students. As there is no surplus in terms of Dutch bachelor鈥檚 students in the relevant areas, 果冻传媒 will mainly seek the extra students abroad, Koenraad explains. 鈥淲e will do this together with the other universities involved in Beethoven 鈥� Delft, Twente and Groningen 鈥� so that we are stronger and do not compete with each other. In anticipation of The Hague's allocation decision, we have already deployed extra people to student recruitment because we want to achieve a slight growth as early as next year.鈥�

We have already deployed extra people to student recruitment because we want to achieve a slight growth as early as next year.

Paul Koenraad, dean Graduate School

A further increase in the number of master's students can be achieved by increasing the flow from our own bachelor's to master's programs, Koenraad explains. 鈥淭here is still profit to be made, especially in regard to international bachelor's students as they choose a different master's program relatively often. Among other things, we will therefore do more to promote master's programs to our own bachelor's students.鈥�

Additional staff

Growing student numbers also means hiring the necessary extra staff. 果冻传媒's guiding principle remains that education is given by researchers to ensure the indispensable connection between science and education.

鈥淭hese are relatively high numbers of new staff,鈥� Koenraad explains. 鈥淭he master's phase has a lot of teaching in small groups and intensive graduation supervision. To ensure this high quality of our teaching, we need one extra academic staff member for every 13 extra students.鈥�

鈥淎nd for every academic staff member, one additional support staff member is needed, such as technicians or teaching assistants. So, you can imagine that many new colleagues are going to be recruited in the coming years. We want to choose them in a way that optimally connects and strengthens all of our semicon activities.鈥�

Cooperation

An important aspect of the joint talent plan submitted by Brainport is closer mutual cooperation. Fontys and 果冻传媒 will ensure that students can move on more easily from HBO to university and vice versa. 鈥淎nd, with Fontys, we are also looking at a partially shared first year for semicon-relevant programs,鈥� says Ines Lopez Arteaga, dean of the Bachelor College. 鈥淭his will give students the chance to experience both types of program and to switch more easily. We hope to retain more students for the semicon sector with these measures.鈥�

Furthermore, the educational institutions involved will also conduct joint recruitment and promotional activities. This is aimed at raising awareness in the Brainport region and at recruiting groups that are generally less likely to choose technical studies.

Life long development

果冻传媒 will also participate in the Brainport Academy, which will bring together all LLO (leven lang ontwikkelen, lifelong development) activities of the educational institutions involved. Lopez Arteaga: 鈥淲e aim to provide a home base for our alumni where they have opportunities throughout their careers to continuously develop their knowledge, including in the field of semiconductors.鈥�

果冻传媒鈥檚 offering will focus on upskilling and retraining alumni and lateral entrants within the semiconductor industry 鈥� some 60 students a year. Incidentally, the allocation of funds from The Hague for this specific element is yet to take place.

Better connection

A better connection between secondary and higher education is also under consideration. Lopez Arteaga: 鈥湽�冻传媒 has therefore taken the initiative to set up the 果冻传媒 Network South Netherlands. This should help improve connections between secondary education and higher education, provide better information and support to students, parents and teachers, and promote educational research and subject matter deepening for teachers.鈥�

Research

Additional academic staff and additional master's students automatically means that more research will be done. 鈥淭hat fits perfectly with the research ambition that we have within the Future Chips flagship,鈥� says professor Bart Smolders, who is the ambassador of the flagship.

鈥淔or example, there is the major research collaboration with ASML, within which some 80 PhD students will be trained. The extra master鈥檚 students from the Beethoven program will soon be able to do research in the new cleanroom that 果冻传媒 is going to build. These are all initiatives that reinforce each other.鈥�

Eighty PhD students within the research collaboration with ASML and additional master鈥檚 students doing research in the new cleanroom: all initiatives that reinforce each other.

Professor Bart Smolders

Lab building and cleanroom

With so many extra students and staff there, don't we need extra buildings? 鈥淵es, indeed,鈥� confirms Patrick Groothuis, vice-president of the Executive Board. 鈥淲e鈥檝e not been sitting still. We have elaborate plans, not only for a new and bigger cleanroom building but also for a new lab building specifically for semicon.鈥�

We have elaborate plans, not only for a new and bigger cleanroom building but also for a new lab building specifically for semicon.

Vice-president Patrick Groothuis

鈥淲e want to realize that lab building at the junction of Het Eeuwsel and De Zaale. The building will house many of the labs within Future Chips under one roof, maximizing cross-fertilization between the various areas, from high-tech systems to photonics. And, of course, there will be teaching rooms for the many extra students. It will therefore be a substantial building, with dimensions just one size smaller than the Flux building.鈥�

鈥淣ow that the first funds have been allocated, we can initiate decision-making around this building because we desperately need it. And these new facilities and labs are certainly also going to help attract new scientists and students.鈥� Preparation and designs will start in 2025 and the start of the construction of the lab building is aimed for 2027, with the construction start of the cleanroom scheduled for 2026. To accommodate growth until then, the Real Estate service, in collaboration with the departments, is deploying a shifting program to create additional space in the existing buildings as early as 2025.

Cuts

果冻传媒 expects 90 million euros in total from The Hague. That's a lot of money, and at a time when 果冻传媒 has to make cuts. Can some of those cuts now be reversed? 鈥淣o,鈥� says Groothuis. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 unfortunately not possible. The money we get for Beethoven is for extra work; we are not allowed to use it to plug holes that were already there. And we don't want to. The investments in Beethoven allow us to grow in terms of our primary objective, which is to deliver as many highly trained engineers as possible, as demanded by society and industry.鈥�

Student accommodation

Of course, almost 2,000 extra students requires additional student housing. But the university cannot spend money on this. How will this be taken care of? Groothuis: 鈥淭his is already included in the agreements of the Housing and Living Climate pillar of . It includes a budget for the construction of 2,280 housing units for students. As a university, we will not build these ourselves; other parties will take care of this and we will help make sure that they are built. At the same time, we will continue to look for projects through which we can help realize new student housing, as we have done with the VB building on the Boschdijk in Eindhoven and the 1,500 residential units that we now have on our own campus.鈥�

Semicon university

With all the initiatives around semicon, you might get the impression that 果冻传媒 is setting all its sights on semiconductors and that everything else is secondary. But that is definitely not the case, says Rector Silvia Lenaerts. 鈥淔irst of all, we are enormously proud of our strategic commitment to semiconductors and the results that we are achieving. Indeed, this positions us strongly on semicon, with an increasing 果冻传媒 research and education component in this area. But it鈥檚 good to keep in mind that semicon is and will remain just one of the domains in which we are active. We are also looking at other focus areas where we as a university can really make a difference for the region in a European context.鈥�

Professional governance

Attracting many extra students, recruiting new staff, setting up new courses, and constructing new buildings. The realization of 果冻传媒鈥檚 contribution to Beethoven is comprehensive and complex. 鈥淲e therefore need to manage this very well and ensure good governance,鈥� says Lenaerts. 鈥淲e are going to ensure professional governance that will fall under the Future Chips flagship. It will not only take care of internal coordination, monitoring and progress management but also the coordination with all external parties, including industry, educational institutions in Brainport and beyond, and Brainport itself. This is badly needed to deliver what we have promised. And we are going to ensure that!鈥�

National semicon strategy

President of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits is already looking further ahead: 鈥淲e hope that the Beethoven project is the stepping stone to an ambitious, multi-year semicon strategy for our country, linked to Europe's agenda. One in which the Brainport region plays a central role, with 果冻传媒 at its beating heart and in cooperation with similar regions in the EU.鈥�

You can download the 果冻传媒-contribution to the Brainport talent plan (in Dutch).