Improve communication and integration between all member UCs and the UCSRN
To fulfil our role in being a knowledge-sharing platform for UCs across the Netherlands, we strive for effective communication. Furthermore, UCs and the UCSRN need to be acquainted, so proper work can be done on projects. Therefore we would like to improve the communication and integration between UC’s and the UCSRN. We mean to do this by visiting all UC’s in the first week to introduce ourselves and the UCSRN from next year onwards. With this, we hope to build better relationships with all UC’s and their students. With society reopening, we hope in-person UCSRN events will help strengthen our ties with UC’s. This year, to improve inter-UC communication, we created a centralised Slack that includes members of all UCSRN bodies. We hope this helps to easily reach all UC’s in a more informal way. Furthermore we would like to make a UCSRN calendar, to which UC’s can subscribe and have a general overview of the year. With one of our main goals being to rebrand the UCSRN and improve their social media, we hope to reach more students via our social media. We hope to be more visible for all students and not just improve our communication with the representatives of the UCs.
Fostering a spirit of engagement across University Colleges in the Netherlands
As the UCSRN is dependent on its members to organise activities, we aim to stimulate them to take a more active role in this. We emphasise equal opportunity for all member UCs to receive financial support for inter-UC projects, including smaller-scale and/or regional initiatives. In addition, the new travel reimbursement policy is designed to provide equal opportunity for participation, regardless of geographical location. Now that society is opening up again and in-person events seem to be more likely, we hope students and representatives are more willing to organise and set up events (both social and academic). Through our updated socials we hope to reach more students and engage them in UCSRN activities.
Stimulate excellent and accessible education
The EB would like to endorse academic support and excellence through the Academic Committee, in which academic representatives from all UCs are part. We will continue to create a solid platform for the exchange of ideas and questions on academic wellbeing and useful practices to help students get the most of their UC experience. The EB also finds it important to make education as accessible and inclusive to all UCSRN members as possible. The academic committee is an integral part of this goal, as they will help facilitate and update the UC database. This document contains crucial information about each UC. Examples of topics discussed in the document include curriculum structure, mental health support services, Master’s transition, etc. This database is available to all members of the UCSRN and can be used for reference. With this document the UCSRN hopes to support incoming, current and outgoing students. These two platforms will help us facilitate excellent and accessible education to our community.
Increase the visibility of the UCSRN, its goals, and its social and academic tools offered to UC students
It is crucial for the UCSRN to get more visibility amongst the student bodies, to reach our members to the fullest and provide them with the facilities that exist. The board plans on doing this through a complete re-branding of the UCSRN to make it more approachable and to increase student interest. This will be done on social media and the website, mainly with new PR strategies whilst providing more information to the students. The website will be updated regularly in order to make it more user-friendly. Lastly, both Social and Academic Committee representatives will be called upon to play a bigger role in directly representing the UCSRN at their respective UC’s.
Represent all UC students and their best interests on a national level
Work on improving UC students’ accessibility to master programs and companies/internships (work together with deans) have a UC day (alumni from different sectors, etc.). Keep and improve contact with external partners whose goals align with ours. Send out survey/questionnaire to UCs students to identify widespread issues, work with deans to solve them.
Reevaluate and improve the internal organisation of the UCSRN
Send evaluation surveys to members (boards) to evaluate their experience with the UCSRN and their perceived problems. Create focus groups with inter-UC participants to discuss issues more in-depth and come up with possible solutions. Create a commission, headed by the EB, aimed at revisions statutes and policy manual (might need legal help, look into this before GA). Create a feedback mechanism to allow members to directly reach the EB with their issues.