Green light for the Frisian fusion university
All we had to do was wait for the minister's permission, and it is now. NHL and Stenden Hogeschool will merge next year. "Everyone feels that this makes us stronger."
Image: NHL Hogeschool
There was little chance that the merger between the two neighbors would still ricochet. And yet Stenden chairman Leendert Klaassen is very pleased with the final approval of the Ministry of Education. "It took three years to work on it."
In 2015 things did not look so good and the first merger proposal failed. “Our participation councils wanted more information and did not agree. We then made a complete restart. ”
Great support
According to Klaassen, the merger has been discussed with more than a thousand employees and students. “That provided a lot of information that we incorporated into our new proposal. After a solid discussion with the participation councils and some adjustments, it was almost unanimously accepted in February. All in all, I think very few mergers have been achieved with so much support. Everyone feels that this makes us stronger. ”
According to him, NHL employees are particularly happy with the large international network of Stenden University of Applied Sciences, which has four campuses abroad, and conversely, NHL University's good contacts in the region are a welcome addition to Stenden. Stenden's small technology courses in the Emmen location can also benefit from the much larger NHL technology faculty in Leeuwarden.
Stenden chairman Leendert Klaassen: All in all, I think very few mergers have been achieved with so much support.
Achievable
Stenden lecturer Corrie van Noort is chairman of the special participation council of both universities, which was set up in June. “The councils were never beforehand against a merger, but the initial plans were very general. We still had some concerns during the new negotiations, because bigger is not always better. ”
The merger plan stipulates, among other things, that only three management layers will remain in the new university of applied sciences and that a new educational concept will be gradually introduced. “We wanted to make sure that all of this is feasible and affordable. If all goes well, education will not be large-scale and anonymous: teachers and students will stick to their own community platforms to hear. That is one of the points that we will keep a close eye on. ”
In consultation with the two participation councils, the so-called merger document was amended on a number of points before it was accepted in February. Van Noort: "There is now a lot of support at all levels and there is a feeling that we can do this and it will be beautiful."
Blood type fight
Klaassen does not expect the new university of applied sciences to suffer from a blood group battle between former Stenden and NHL employees. “When you used to walk across the square between our colleges, you really had the feeling that you were crossing a border. That is much less the case now. We make full use of each other's facilities. The NHL people from our restaurant, we from their cozy coffee corner. It feels more and more natural. There are certainly cultural differences, but they will soon diminish. ”
