DEAN PROF. BERT LAUWERS - CONTINUITY IN PROGRESS

FACULTY NEWS

The calm determination with which Dean Prof. Bert Lauwers has united, expanded and strengthened the Faculty of Engineering Technology over the past four years has been rewarded. He was re-elected with brio on 10 February 2020. Keeping course where possible, adjusting when neccessary, will be the adage of his second term of office.

An adage is an idea or a wisdom that has established its value. It is generally endorsed that Prof. Lauwers’ policy falls under this heading. Strategic objectives such as the profiling of the study programme, the styling of the multicampus programme and further internationalisation are in full swing and have already led to new insights and impulses for further developments.

“The most far-reaching enterprise is and remains the programme reform”, according to Prof. Lauwers. “Colleagues of all campuses have buckled down to the renewal of the curriculum. This exercise has set an unprecedented dynamism in motion. We set off for a trajectory of at least another four years, of which the outcome should not only be a clear-cut profile of the programme, but also a true multi-campus faculty every campus can identify with”.

Valorisation

During Prof. Lauwers’ first term of office, no less than six new additional programmes saw the light of day: postgraduate and international master’s programmes. Each of them has great potential for internationalisation and lifelong learning.

Over the past four years, the number of PhD students has increased exponentially. According to Prof. Lauwers, the inclusion of a ‘valorisation’ component in each PhD has undoubtedly contributed to this growth. “In any case, it has taken the PhD student out of his/her ivory tower and put him/her with both feet in the work field. If we can now convince the companies of its added value, we are on the right track here too”.

Participation

The new curriculum offers students an unprecedented range of opportunities to develop, i.e. to orientate themselves more broadly or to delve further into elective packages and multicampus modules. Prof. Lauwers also wants to give new impetus to student participation at both local and faculty level.

As far as human resources policy is concerned, according to Prof. Lauwers the next coming years it will not be easy to find suitable profiles for vacant or new positions. “That is why I do not think it is wise to link educational work methods too strongly to statutes”.

Breakthrough

Internationally, Prof. Lauwers has contributed to a breakthrough. “The influx of foreign students into the English-language bachelor’s programme has increased considerably in recent years. At the same time, we are seeing a growing number of international master’s programmes. What the impact of the corona crisis will be here remains to be seen. As far as international cooperation is concerned, I am in favour of a limited number of strategic partners in different regions for the structural mobility of students, professors and researchers”.

Prof. Lauwers also wishes to pursue a similar ‘quality first’ policy in the relationships with the industry. “It comes down to making the expertise available on our campuses even more accessible to regional enterprises. The other way round, I also want to inject even more business know-how into our study programmae via guest lectures and part-time positions for seasoned entrepreneurs”.

Transparent policy and management will remain a priority for the Dean in the coming years. “A well-oiled internal communication is indispensable in this respect. A large university as well as a multicampus faculty counts numerous active administrative and advisory committees. Their interoperability may be further optimised. The regionalisation of the education committees is already one step towards enhanced effectiveness”.

Policy team

On 11 May 2020, the Faculty Council approved the composition of the faculty’s new policy team. In the coming years, the Dean will be supported by two Vice Deans. Prof. Dorine Bruneel, former Vice Chair at Ghent Technology Campus, succeeds Prof. Greet Langie as Vice Dean for Education. Prof. Koen Eneman, former Chair at Group T Leuven Campus, takes on the task of Vice Dean for International Affairs. With both Vice Deans, Prof. Lauwers is surrounded by experts who have earned their spurs in the field.

A seasoned dean, Prof. Lauwers knows first-hand that the implementation of a widely supported faculty policy takes time and energy and cannot be rushed into. A good guideline here is Vincent Van Gogh’s alleged quote : ‘great things do not come about on impulse, they are the result of many smaller things being brought together’. A multi-campus faculty is no exception.

Yves Persoons