Summary

2023 was a challenging year for the University of Twente. A world in turmoil had is effects on the UT. Increasing building and maintenance costs and on top of that, a huge raise in salary costs on the one hand, and dropping student numbers on the other led to a financially delicate situation. To keep the organisation healthy and future proof, first steps have been made in 2023, meanwhile keeping up our unique character as the entrepreneurial, people centered university of technology, educating the next generation to make impact in society. The three priorities set in 2023 for the coming years are: maintaining student intake, future-proofing our education and increasing income from second and third stream funding. To further sharpen the UT’s profile, it was decided to focus on four impact domains: Health, Climate, Safety & Security and Chip Technologies. Despite the challenging situation, staff and students were committed as always to achieve our ambitions in education, research and valorisation. Next to the achievements realised in 2023, this annual report also includes some of the dilemmas that we have encountered: guarding the resilience and safe keeping the wellbeing of students, coping with boundaries and integrity in externally funded research, the decrease in (international) student numbers and the maintenance of our high quality but labor-intensive TOM model.

SHAPING SOCIETY

Shaping society requires a multi-disciplinary approach empowering people and thus creating true impact. Our high quality academic education provides significant impact for society. The quality of our teaching model TOM, providing small-scale education at a high level, training our students to become leaders of change who think out of the box and understand the interaction between science, technology, and society is widely recognized. The new vision on education ‘Learning through Interaction’ outlines how we aim to stimulate students to obtain ‘more than a degree’, through learning by doing, building inclusive communities and personal development.

With the fast changing world, Lifelong Learning (Leven Lang Ontwikkelen) becomes essential for organisations and their employees to keep up to date. Reason for the UT to invest in further development of LLO alongside our traditional education. This way the UT not only attracts a new type of student, but also contributes to building professional, subject oriented communities. A coalition of UT, Saxion, ROC and companies, for example, received a M€2 National Groeifonds LLO-katalysator subsidy for a LLO program for the energy transition sector.

Big societal challenges are the starting point for research and education. In 2023, we started the climate initiative, enabling a transition towards a resilient, low-carbon society by advancing transdisciplinary solutions to climate change. The Hydrogen UT community was also established in 2023, strengthening the leading position of UT in the field of sustainable energy. To help find solutions for the impending drink water shortage, the Waterlab was opened, a testlab for water- and membrane technology. Further, the project “Growing with Green steel” received a Groeifonds grant. The project accelerates the transformation to a sustainable steel sector by five years. Twente is increasingly becoming a centre for photonics and semiconductors and aims to contribute to European production through chip development. Investments were made to start a production facility for photonic chips: New Origin, a 100% daughter of the UT Holding.

As educator, employer and the only truly original campus university in the Netherlands, the UT feels a great responsibility to integrate sustainability into research, education and operations. A series of Sustainability Dialogues resulted in concrete actions, varying from integrating climate change into the curriculum to calling upon our partners in the fossil industry and energy sector to commit to the Paris Agreement.

SHAPING CONNECTIONS

Shaping connections is about networks. One of our most cherished networks is our alumni community. Together with our students, current and former employees, our alumni form a community of more than 70.000 people who connect us to the innovative companies, governments, and knowledge institutions across the globe. As a campus University, we are a valuable link between academia and society in the region, the Netherlands, and the world. UT scientists work closely with companies in the region, creating an appealing business climate for new companies, binding researchers and talent to the region, and offering opportunities to acquire funds. The Regiodeal Twente, granted in 2023, supports this by, among others, attracting, training and retaining talent, while the UT contributes with the minor Going Dutch: Kickstart your Dutch Work Life and a regional project Happy to be in Twente.

Since 2021 a cooperation between several Knowledge Institutions, Economic boards, Provinces Gelderland and Overijssel, regions, cluster and (umbrella) organisations worked on an innovation agenda, which was officially endorsed in 2023. The aim is to work together on innovations contributing to safe and sustainable food, healthy living, digitization, clean energy, circular economy and a better connection of the region with the government and the European Union.

We keep investing in our partnerships like those with VU Amsterdam, Saxion and the Zwolle region, to create new educational and research initiatives, stabilize our student influx and train more technical talent with a strong social drive. To endorse a long-standing cooperation, we signed a covenant with Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, expressing the ambition to increase collaboration in various education and research initiatives. A joint research programme for the Zwolle region focuses on sectors such as Manufacturing Industry, Plastics, Care Technology and Energy Transition. A positive vipe in times of societal challenges is the project “Hope in times of climate change” of Ernst Bohlmeijer (faculty BMS) and Jan Jorrit Hasselaar (VU). They received a grant from the Nationaal Groeifonds. This year, the first students started in Amsterdam with the Bachelor Creative Technology.

Various dossiers have been on the table in our collaboration within UNL, the Association of Research Universities in the Netherlands. Through 4TU, the Federation of the four Dutch Technical Universities, we actively contribute to society’s demand for more technicians. In 2023 the Netherlands Academy of Engineering (NAE) kicked off. Among the Fellows are six UT researchers.

On an international level, we deepened the collaboration with WWU University of Munster and the University of Waterloo and continued building a European University with our ECIU partners.

SHAPING INDIVIDUALS

Shaping individuals is about a University creating a safe and inspiring study and work environment. contributing to a fair, sustainable, and digital society. Inclusion and social safety are, just as in society, high on the agenda at the UT. To take this further, the Social Safety steering group was established.

To set our students up for a successful time at the UT, we organise top-notch education. On top of that, students are stimulated to develop more broadly by being active in a board of a sports, cultural or study association, a student team, the information team or a council. In 2023 several student teams were successful, like the Solar Team Twente who finished second in the World Solar Challenge and the Solar Boat Twente ended on a third place in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge. The RoboTeam Twente received the Open-Source Award in Bordeaux.

The decrease in overall enrolment in our courses, as facts and figures show, is worrying for both UT and society, since there is a great need for technical talent on the Dutch labor market. The unfamiliarity with UT and technical courses also deprives prospective students of an opportunity for a great career. To help parents guide their child through the study choice process, a podcast series was created in 2023. Because of its socio-technical profile, UT actually provides opportunities for less technically oriented students to prepare for jobs in the technical field.

The basis of our organisation consists of professionals who add value, who are intrinsically motivated, and who move flexibly in a continuously changing environment. As a small University in the periphery of The Netherlands, it is a challenge to attract talented staff. Nevertheless, the number of employees has increased, now for a number of consecutive years. In 2023, the faculty BMS developed a new employee survey questionnaire, based on a research model with a focus on thriving and trust. The response indicates that employees experience personal growth while at work and 82% say they have considerable autonomy in the way they perform their work. We developed a Well-being Leadership expedition for (team)leaders, to increase awareness and offer them assistance in creating a supportive workplace. Part of offering a stimulating workplace is recognising and rewarding. In 2023 a Talent Development Map was developed that supports managers and staff to jointly define new ways of job evaluation and map out career paths.

FINANCES

The UT concluded 2023 with a consolidated result of M€ -10.8. The financial results were significantly impacted by several causes. On top of the already mentioned increasing costs, we saw a rise in costs of hiring of student assistants and travel and accommodation costs. After COVID, travel to for example conferences, picked up again. The income from tuition fees dropped due to a decreasing student population, a trend that will continue.