The smart university - VPRO documentary - 2016
63A year after the students occupation of the Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam, it appears that there are enough ways to come up with a 'smart university'.
Last year students and staff of the University of Amsterdam occupied the Maagdenhuis and protested against the strongly increasing profit way of thinking. But little was said about how education and research should look in the future. After a much-discussed broadcast about the future of our primary and secondary education, VPRO Backlight this time is going deep into the developments of higher education. What should a future-proof university ideally look like? VPRO Backlight collected a number of inspiring examples.
In Amsterdam, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) offers, among others, the Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Beta-Gamma and Future Planet Studies studies. The IIS designs new education for the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and combines several disciplines, because the world does not consist of defined courses or study programs.
At the Forensic Architecture project at Goldsmiths in London, they are no longer doing anything else. They work with NGOs on concrete research projects where architects, lawyers and journalists work together. For example, they present 3D animations showing that Israel has used excessive violence against civilians in the Gaza Strip. The UN has initiated an investigation on the basis of this animation.
In Silicon Valley, Daphne Koller, founder of Coursera, sketches a future for higher education as an online world market. Students from all over the world can take online courses from top universities such as Stanford, Yale or Princeton for nothing, or few, thanks to Massive Open Online Courses, also known as MOOCs. Does this mean a possible emancipation for people in developing countries who do not have the money to register at top universities? For the UvA participant, it is in any case a way to generate publicity, because you share a platform with these top universities. But can the MOOC replace the university?
In the Ruhr area we visit the first university in Germany with a 'Prorektorat für Diversity Management'. Rector Ulrich Radtke anticipates that German society will look very different in 20 years from now. He wants to make it possible for students with a working or migrant background to study. Through the active policy of his Universität Duisburg-Essen (UDE), doors are opened literally and figuratively for young people who never thought of themselves that they would ever be able to study. He questions the rankings that universities get, because they come about in a questionable way. He wants an 'inclusive university' that offers everyone the opportunity to study, regardless of their origin or income. What they do with it, that is their business, according to Radtke.
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2016.
© VPRO Backlight Februari 2016
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Credits:
Director: Alexander Oey
Research: Marijntje Denters
Production: Marie Schutgens
Editors: Marije Meerman, Doke Romeijn
English, French and Spanish subtitles: Ericsson.
French and Spanish subtitles are co-funded by European Union.