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Education is a core task in our social mission. By educating young people, from the undergraduate to the PhD stage, and offering a wide range of educational offerings for alumni and professionals, the university contributes to a better world. We train our students to become critical global citizens who recognise the importance of an open society and a healthy planet.

The world is changing and we are responding to this in our education. Not only in terms of content, through the strong interconnection with our state-of-the-art research and our interaction and co-creation with community partners, but also through the way we design our education and research. Educational development and innovation emerge from a balance between bottom-up initiatives and top-down direction, in a solid ecosystem that fosters teacher development, education innovation and research on education.

We train our students to become critical global citizens who recognise the importance of an open society and a healthy planet.

Utrecht educational model

Over the past period, we have recalibrated the Utrecht educational model in line with innovative developments in the field of education. The model ensures even better alignment with societal challenges and the university's substantive vision. Characteristic features of our education include the way it intertwines with research, interdisciplinarity, freedom of choice, activating learning in context-rich environments, inclusive learning communities, professional and engaged teachers, assessment as a learning tool, and a culture of quality and reflection. The principles of Open Science and Open Education are part of the design principles and infuse our education (see also Chapter 6). In the coming years, we will further implement and secure the Utrecht educational model in all our degree programmes.

Our educational model consists of a vision that we have translated into graduate attributes, and design principles for designing education and the learning and teaching environment.
 

1. In our educational vision, we describe the goal of education, which is a strong academic foundation, with emphasis on inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation, involvement in society, and personal development towards independence and responsibility.
2. The graduate attributes outline the profile of our graduates. Our education focuses on qualification, socialisation and personal development. It aims to teach students to look beyond boundaries to solve complex problems together with others, taking responsibility for themselves, others and society.
3. The way we design our education to achieve these goals is laid down in design principles that guide the design of education and learning and teaching environments.

Education and teacher development

Inter- and transdisciplinarity are an essential part of our education from the undergraduate to the PhD stage, but education  across disciplinary boundaries and using different methods does not come naturally. We have therefore integrated this way of working into our wide range of teacher and organisational development programmes.

Labour market orientation

Our education enables students to qualify themselves for the labour market. We give the labour market, the professional field and, more broadly, society, a recognisable place in our education and develop and provide that education in co-creation with external partners. For example, we provide an activating and context-rich learning experience, stimulating community engagement, entrepreneurial spirit, innovativeness and creativity in students and staff. This transdisciplinary approach will be further embedded in regular curricula in the coming years. The Continuing Education we offer is also designed in alignment with our vision of education.

Artificial intelligence in education

We prepare our students for a world in which artificial intelligence (AI) plays an ever-increasing role in virtually all facets of their personal, professional and social lives. Education focuses on digital literacy, ethical awareness, self-regulation and personal leadership among students. The role of teachers is changing because of AI. While it can be used to facilitate student learning, it should not become a substitute for human interaction and personal guidance. That would be contrary to our ambition for an engaged community, with personal encounters and interaction as key values. The developments and changes in this field are happening at an incredibly rapid pace, so there is a great need to be adaptive and continue to develop our education. We are developing an integrated approach for this.

Student success and well-being

Student success has a basis in good education and feasible programmes, but is about more than just the student pass rate, since student well-being is also an important factor. Students’ discovery and development of their personal and professional identity as ensured by our educational model is enhanced by an adequate support and guidance chain, a rich social life and low-threshold cultural and sports facilities for students. Despite increasingly restricted financial and other frameworks and laws and regulations, we continue to support and enable these facilities.

Next chapter:

• Open Science