The Leisure & Tourism Lab (ULTL), with locations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, has been accepted as a member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). This makes them the first lab focused on tourism and leisure to be admitted to this network, a remarkable achievement! ENoLL is the international, non-profit, independent association of benchmarked Living Labs. Their objective is to foster the global development of Living Labs as open innovation ecosystems based on co-creation and cross border & cross-sectoral collaboration. In their assessment of the ULTL, ENoLL says: “ULTL shows a strong and inclusive governance model, engaging a wide range of stakeholders effectively. Also, a solid track record in running living lab projects, with a focus on urban leisure and tourism is presented and it demonstrates as well a clear interest in regional and international innovation. Their considerable experience in living lab operations is supported by compelling proof.

From the Creative Business Research Center, the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab was the first to apply for accreditation by ENoLL with the aim of gaining experience with membership of the network: what can we contribute to the network and how does it benefit us? With this experience, we can see if it could also make sense for the other labs within our faculty to apply for membership.

Peggy van Schijndel, managing director of the Creative Business Research Center: "I am proud of the colleagues and partners who, for years, have allowed these living labs to become beautiful places for learning and development, of the students who, year after year, demonstrate their valuable contributions, and of the unique blend of expertise that we as Creative Business Research Center bring to the research in these living labs: in the field of systemic co-design as well as regenerative placemaking and sustainable tourism. The issues are big and complex, and we feel the urgency to contribute to them though practice-based research every day. I am confident that membership of ENoLL is going to help us grow to the next stage!"

This day is all about the students. During the morning session, four of our students share the ins and outs about their studies. In the afternoon, the audience is captivated as yet more students present the Living labs.

The day starts off with Bart Combee, Chairman of the Board and Nahied Rezwani, Director of the faculty Business, Finance and Law addressing the visitors. “Internationalization fits in with our vision because our students will go on to work in international situations”, he says.

Researcher and lecturer Linda Snippe gives the audience a little taster of our practice-based research strategy. Dina, who has almost finished her studies at the conservatory, performs a calming jazzy song on the piano. Student Bart takes a short break from shooting these photos to show his already famous pictures, which were published in different international papers.

Klara gives the audience some insights in the workings of the Student Buddy Program for exchange students; a way to ensure every student always has someone to rely on during their time abroad.

Communications student Renske shares about working on projects with students from different studies and locations using our portfolio-based study method. “I’m learning by doing. Not by reading a book, making it through an exam and then… poof - everything I’ve learned is gone. We put what we learn into our portfolio, so it’s not about the grades.”

Tasha Welch from the Royal Roads University in Canada is inspired by the Renske’s story. “Working with portfolios is very innovative, and it is similar to how we work at our university in Canada. We are also looking for more innovative ways of education. This week gives us the opportunity to find out what different universities have in common, so that they can collaborate for future projects.”

After a tour of the building, it is time to lift off to Delft or to go visit a Living Lab at Zuidplein.

Living labs, the new way to go
At Zuidplein Rotterdam awaits a Living lab market with 7 Living Lab topics. From Sustainable Fashion to Sustainable Tourism. Visitors are invited to talk to the students and lecturers to get an idea of how a Living lab works.

Asad Ullah Sheikh from Pakistan visits to almost all the Living labs. “I think it is extremely valuable that the students are involved today, because they are our main stakeholders. I find the interaction between the industry and the students interesting, that’s a bridge I want to build.”

At the Living lab Lombardijen, student Gianni Staal together with his fellow student give a presentation about how they intend to solve social problems in this district. The crime rate is high, and poverty is prevalent. “In this Living lab, we work together with the government of the city Rotterdam. We do research on topics that are relevant for this district and share our recommendations with the bodies and institutions that are responsible for this neighborhood”, explains Gianni.

A visitor from Spain asks how the students they will implement all they’ve learned in this Living lab later in their careers. Gianni: “Well, I found a job as a ‘Leefbaarheidsregisseur’ (livability director) because of this Living Lab, so I am actually going to work in this district to help people with these issues.”

Javier Gil Rojo from Spain and Nadine Hachimann from Germany discuss the Living labs. Nadine Hachimann: “I think Living labs are very innovative concepts. It’s unique and it really fosters flexible thinking. However, I do think the maybe students might need more guidance.” Javier Gil Rojo: “But tmaybe that is only our point of view. I do think this is the new way to go.”

Photographer: Bart Stoutjesdijk, student Creative Business at Inholland

Some guests are here only for the first or second time, others know Inholland like the back of their hand. One of the latter is Marcus Kjellberg. Only a few years ago he himself was an exchange student at Inholland Diemen. Now he works as an International Coordinator at the Mälardalen University in Sweden, making other students just as enthusiastic about gaining international experience.

Nahied Rezwani and Bart Combee warmly welcome the attendees as they introduce them to Rotterdam and Inholland. “Let's strengthen our relationships, build new ones and learn from each other”, said Bart Combee. Coach, teacher, and international speaker Bas van den Beld is hosting the Partner Day.

Linda Snippe treats the attendees to a sneak peek of the European strategy for practice-based research at Inholland. “We work with ‘Trias Academia’, in which we collaborate with educational, research and the professional institutions. We believe this is how we can be most impactful.”

Dina, a conservatory student, writes and records her own music. She performs in cafés and bars every month, and now she’s singing at the Partner Day. “I’m learning about the importance of the business side of music. My conservatory teachers help me with my branding and to position myself as an artist.”

The audience has many questions for our students. They want to know what the students think should change at Inholland, whether they feel they can combine their personal work with school projects and if they think teachers are in fact real humans.

The answer is yes to all of these. Inholland gives students a lot of freedom to combine their personal work with their studies. One of the students’ recommendations is that all Inholland students should work portfolio-based, instead of writing exams. And yes, they do think our teachers are real humans. Moreover, Inholland’s teachers are also coaches. ‘I feel that we are equal.’

Photographer: Bart Stoutjesdijk, student Creative Business at Inholland

Irena Melua, Vice President for Internationalization at the Caucasus University in Georgia
“First of all, we have a great partnership with Inholland. We exchange students for Erasmus+ programs and for faculties. We not only enjoy a partnership, I feel like I came here today to see my friends at Inholland. We are looking forward to networking with different colleagues, and to exploring new partnership options with universities we aren’t yet connected with. One of our goals is to attract more international students. Right now, we have more students going abroad than students coming in from other countries. 

We are trying to get more European students to come to our beautiful university, and to see our country. We have a wide range of programs in English, we offer a lot of great educational opportunities, and we have great facilities. Our campus is situated in the capital, in the historical old city. If students come here, they get a real taste of our unique Georgian culture with it’s with warm people and great hospitality.”

Madina Mamanova, KIB University in Kazakhstan
“It’s my first time in Rotterdam. I really like the city; it is very modern. I’m here at the Partner Day because we are partners with Inholland and because of the Erasmus+ training week (training opportunities for staff). I would like to spend some time with the international office of Inholland to see how they work and how they communicate with students and learn more about the selection process they use. I am responsible for the students that go abroad. We work with different European universities, and we have about 30 to 40 students who are eager to go study in other nations. However, at present we only receive 2 or maybe 3 students per year.”

Armend Berisha, Head of International Projects, Universum International College in Kosova
“I’m here at in Inholland for the second time. What brings me here are my connections with Inholland - and new ideas are already bubbling up. We have different things going on currently: from working on projects together to exchanging ideas for new projects. The Inholland colleagues can select students who would like to come for a project in Kosova to do a Blended Intensive Programme and work together on a topic within the domain of Tourism and Hospitality. It is only my second time here, but by the looks of it, I’ll be back many more times! 

I’m responsible for developing our projects and I’m always eager to explore new areas of collaboration and new projects. Fortunately, here at Inholland everyone is very openminded and excited about international collaboration, making it a pleasure to be here. I think Inholland’s Tourism Department is well developed and they have interesting ideas about the Tourism industry. One of the things I learned from them is how we can improve our students’ learning experiences, because at Inholland, they look at things both from a local and an international perspective.”

Sarah Marx, Project Coordinator at Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin in Germany
“We are already partnering with Inholland, but I’m here and also attending the EAIE because I want to meet new people. As a COIL coordinator, I’m always looking out for best practices to glean or learn from. Maybe we can start a COIL connection with Inholland in the future. [Coil stands for Collaborative Online International Learning.] 

That would be a great opportunity. I don’t have a specific topic in mind yet, since our university is diverse and offers a wide range of studies. It would be great to have a multi-disciplinary COIL. I’m openminded and I look forward to talking to different teachers from different fields. In America and South America, the COIL is a well-known concept. It was only introduced in Europa in the last 4-5 years, so it is quite new here. Maybe Covid has helped it to become more prominent.”

Photographer: Bart Stoutjesdijk, student Creative Business at Inholland

The EAIE Conference 2023, the largest international education conference for higher education in Europe, is coming to Rotterdam. This conference of the European Association for International Education (EAIE) will take place in Ahoy from 26 until 29 September. Inholland University of Applied Sciences is one of the host institutions.

The EAIE conference is an annual conference where education professionals from partner institutions meet, discover new trends and gain new insights into internationalisation. Last year, the EAIE conference in Barcelona attracted 6,300 participants from 90 countries.

Petra Hogendoorn-Schweighofer, policy adviser on internationalisation at Inholland and one of the speakers, has been attending EAIE conferences since 2008. ‘This education conference does not only deepen your knowledge on internationalisation but it is also a great opportunity to meet and expand your international network.’

Inholland at the EAIE
This 33rd edition in Rotterdam will be packed with workshops, content sessions, speakers and Campus Experiences. As the host institution and funding partner, Inholland will take up a prominent place this year, together with Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Thomas More Hogeschool and Codarts.

This means that, for the first time, Inholland will have its own stand during the conference, it will organise 'Partner Days' on 25 September and the Inholland locations in Rotterdam and Delft will be open on 26 September during the Campus Experiences. We will also get exposure with an article in EAIE's Forum magazine, on the conference website and at the conference venue. In addition, two of our proposals this year have been selected for content sessions on Thursday 27 September.

View on developments
In one session, about the future of internationalisation, Petra will talk about the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) and how these programmes can contribute to solving societal issues. In the other session, Adinda van Gaalen, strategic adviser for research and internationalisation, will discuss the key role of policy in making the internationalisation of higher education more sustainable. Check out the full programme of the EAIE conference.

Internationalisation and sustainability
Sustainability is one of the trends at the EAIE conference, alongside inclusivity and digitalisation. An interesting topic, because how do you cooperate sustainably? And can a conference where people from 90 countries travel to one place be called sustainable?

Petra Hogendoorn-Schweighofer: ‘That's right, it's a dilemma for many educational institutions. Therefore, the EAIE encourages travelling to the conference by sustainable modes of transport. Fortunately, conducting meetings with international partners online allows you to reduce mobility to some extent. However, the best ideas often come from meeting each other in person.'

Read more about the EAIE conference in this article

“It was really an intensive week," agrees one of the Inholland students, as he walks on the fortieth floor of the Municipality’s office De Rotterdam to the corridor where the group photo is taken. After this, the group will make a cruise on the Maas and will have a last dinner together. Talking with a beer and recovering from a week of hard work is what this student will be doing.

Municipality receives international inspiration
It was indeed hard work for the participating students from various disciplines: management, architecture and urban design.  Prior to the field week in Rotterdam, they received five weeks of online lessons in for instance design thinking.

The floating designs had to meet the needs of both residents and entrepreneurs. In this way, the municipality received international inspiration for new destinations of harbours that lost their original function. The concept 'Floating Vibes' won the first prize for the best combination of design and business plan.

Lisanne de Bever, third-year Business Studies Management Studies
"If you had told me a week ago that I would be presenting in English, I wouldn't have believed you. I like presenting in Dutch, but in English it's really different. It was new for me to work with foreign students and it was a fun group. We connected well and kept focus on the goal. It is nice that you do not know each other at all at the beginning of the week and that you end up as good colleagues at the end.

I think it's important to connect with other cultures, because you will have to deal with them in your future life. The sooner you are exposed to other cultures, the easier it will be. In other words, participating in a BIP is a very good exercise to enter the real world."

Silpa Kinnunen - International Business from Finland
"I'm amazed and proud of how well I got through this week. The main reason to participate was to improve my English. I think my English has really improved this week. Moreover, I wanted to work with people from other countries, from other cultures and from other disciplines. I enjoyed getting to know new people and a new country.

What I noticed is that the other students talked so much while working on the project. In Finland we always work in silence. That was sometimes difficult, because I'm used to working very differently."

Jonah van den Beukel – third-year student Business Studies Management Studies
It was a lot of fun. This BIP was all about making friends and having fun together while developing a concept. Never before have I done such a project. Being creative was difficult. Because we had a big brainstorm session together, we succeeded. It helps that you are all working towards the same goal. Being at school every day, working hard every day: I'm going to miss that fun now it's over….

I recommend students to participate in a BIP, because you quickly make new friends. You will meet people you normally never meet, such as management students or architecture students from abroad. In short, I see it as a very positive experience."

What is a Blended Intensive Programme?
A Blended Intensive Programme is a programme that combines online and offline learning. Before the students started working together in Rotterdam, they worked together online in international teams to get prepared for their field work in Rotterdam. The partners in this BIP were recruited from Inholland’s large network of  international partners.

Marlies Springorum, internationalisation coordinator at Inholland and lecturer in Marketing, initiated this international programme, which receives financial support from ERASMUS+ from the EU. Abdul Kara, co-initiator at the Rotterdam campus, secured the cooperation of the municipality of Rotterdam as commissioners.

Marlies: "This programme is for students who do not necessarily want to go abroad for six months, but who do enjoy working together in an international context. This cross-cultural cooperation - online and offline - is also important for the EU. I think it's a great concept”.