What do we want for your education? | Lijst Beta

What do we want for your education?

Lijst Bèta strives for innovative and inspiring education, so that you can become a well-rounded Delft engineer. 10 years ago we were founded for this purpose, and to this day we still believe that this should be the first priority of the Student Council. But how do we achieve innovative and inspiring education?

Learning vs achieving

First of all, it is important that we move to a system that rewards learning instead of achieving. This is not just essential to prepare us to succeed in the 21st century, it also is vital for our own mental wellbeing. This means, for example, that during projects not only the result should be considered, but also the process of getting to that result. And that we organize courses in such a way that we inspire students to learn for themselves, instead of learning for the exam.

A significant part of this development is the role of teachers. They are the ones that inspire students, but also the ones that set the expectations. So, if we want to change the culture, that’s also the place to start. A great example of this is the letter that the FSC and Stylos initiated requesting all teachers to lower the work pressure for students. Lijst Bèta believes this is a sentiment that should be shared across the entire university.

Moreover, if we want a curriculum focused on learning, this is only possible if students have enough freedom in choosing what they want to learn and know why they are learning things. That is why Lijst Bèta wants students to have autonomy in their curriculum to choose the topics that inspire them, while giving enough support to make students confident in their choices.

In addition to that, the curricula should challenge students to develop themselves, by teaching them the necessary 21st century skills such as programming, reflecting, critical thinking and (multidisciplinary) collaboration.

Naturally, there is always room for improvement in your courses, which is why we value a good feedback system. We want to make it possible to also provide feedback halfway through the course, so you can still benefit from the improvements you suggested. Teachers should also be motivated by the TU to improve their education skills, so that everybody can receive high-quality lectures!

Sustainability

To properly educate us as future engineers, it is important that the university also prepares us for the challenges of our time. One of the biggest challenges is of course sustainability. However, we’re not going to get there through just recycling: sustainability should be integrated in the curricula too. By teaching about the climate impact of our engineering decisions, or having projects to solve sustainability problems, we will get the proper tools to face climate change this coming century. To support this progress of integrating sustainability, we are working together with GreenTU on a fund to enable teachers at every faculty to integrate sustainability into their course with the help of specialised student assistants.

Diversity and Inclusion

But sustainability is just one of the challenges. With growing inequality and a more diverse population, it is important that we consider all groups in society while engineering, for example when we build houses or design cities. As engineers we have the opportunity to not just build things, but actively support inclusion and integration in the way we design our living spaces! One of the ways in which Lijst Bèta wants to support this is by setting up diversity and inclusion teams at all faculties, that will not only try to improve the study climate, but also ensure that the course content is diverse and inclusive. By having a D&I team at each faculty, the specific issues of that faculty can be tackled.

These are just some of the ideas Lijst Bèta has for the university. Do you want this vision echoed throughout the whole university for the coming year? Then vote Lijst Bèta!

This article was written by Eva Slingerland