ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) emphasises the importance of working closely with society. With public and semi-public organisations, citizens and other civil society partners, for example. Cooperation is also at the heart of the international non-profit organisation Vets Without Borders (DZG), and not only within the Netherlands. We talk to CEL ambassador Rebecca Nordquist from Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and Siska Hulsman and Rebecca Roos from DZG.

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is a move from within Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ to connect students with society in different ways. "It’s crucial that everyone learns, not just the students themselves but also the social partners and lecturers," says Rebecca Nordquist, CEL ambassador and researcher at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. "In short, it’s a collaborative learning process to which everyone contributes."

Listen carefully

Siska Hulsman and Rebecca Roos are both heavily involved in the student arm of Vets Without Borders Netherlands. This non-profit organisation provides veterinary support to people in Malawi in the broadest sense of the word. Roos: "We listen carefully to people's needs and set up projects based on those needs."

Nordquist: "Within CEL, students organise a lot of different projects. I think that’s the best thing about it. To strengthen collaborations, I would advise students to engage with people within the organisation."

Hulsman: "It’s good that Rebecca mentions this, because that’s exactly what I experienced in Malawi. As soon as you get there, you realise that it’s such a different world, with a different culture and way of working. People live from day to day, so it’s really important to work with an open mind and to engage with people."

Motivation, key driver

Currently, the projects carried out by the students from Vets Without Borders are not yet covered under the CEL curriculum. Hulsman and Roos are working hard to change that. After all, the projects they set up have a lot in common with the competencies of CEL education.

Hulsman: "In Malawi, we work together in different ways. For instance, we visit farmers we are training to become Community Animal Health Workers. We teach them the basic procedures performed by a vet. Vaccinations, deworming and performing simple procedures, for example. That way, they can help other farmers in their community. We also disseminate knowledge about the animals, which improves their health and productivity. And we’re working on a campaign against rabies in collaboration with people who are already working on this."

Roos: "This campaign is an important project. Fortunately, rabies is increasingly under control, but it hasn’t yet been eradicated. It is precisely by setting up these projects and entering into collaborations that we keep making progress."

People in Malawi are very motivated, and that makes us even more keen to help them in whatever way we can

Hulsman nods and continues: "Another campaign that contributes to this is the castration project. In this project, we work with local vets to reduce the stray animal population. It’s obvious that people in Malawi are very motivated. And that makes us even more keen to help. In 3 days, we castrated 109 animals."

Clear dividing line

Nordquist: "It’s great to hear that you’re involved in education. The first thing I think when I hear this is how we can link this to the objectives of the CEL. It’s great that the university and the faculty are working more and more with social partners. I think it’s really important that this is incorporated further in education. Students must be able to engage in social discussions in society and learn from people who have no connection with Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ. The clear dividing line between what happens within the university and what happens outside it is slowly blurring. I think that’s a great thing."

Nordquist has another question for Hulsman. "What did you take away with you that will help you further as a future vet?" Hulsman thinks this is a good question to end with. "I appreciate my work more now that I can help both people and animals. You realise how important animals are to people. I now have even more appreciation for the fact that, here in the Netherlands, we can do so much to help animals. I’d like to see that happen in other countries too."

The clear dividing line between university and society is slowly blurring. I think that’s a great thing