The latest updates about the scale jump
October 2023
The BO Brainport meeting of 4 October had housing, mobility and congestion of the electricity grid as main points on its agenda. At the beginning of 2024 a dedicated meeting of BO Brainport will be held in Eindhoven with special focus on talent. This will bring the ministers to Eindhoven to discuss the talent proposition that TU/e, along with Fontys, Summa, and the Brainport region, has submitted. "I find it hopeful that this meeting is entirely focused on our proposal to train more talent for the Brainport region," says Robert-Jan Smits, president of TU/e's Executive Board. "This is the perfect opportunity for us to introduce the ministers to the wonderful things happening in the region."
WHAT IS THE SCALE JUMP?
The Brainport region, with its high-tech manufacturing industry, is fast becoming the biggest driver of the Dutch economy. In the coming years, more than 70,000 additional jobs are expected at large companies such as VDL, DAF, ASML, NXP, ProDrive and the many suppliers that are also growing in turn. TU/e, alongside Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Summa College, plays a major role in filling these vacancies.
TU/e has indicated its willingness to grow to a doubling of its master’s graduation rate and has requested 280 million euros from the government to do so. The intention is to hire more staff to educate and supervise students and to expand the campus with buildings for education and research.
BRAINPORT = MAINPORT
The government explicitly named the Brainport region as the Mainport of the Netherlands in the coalition agreement. The Hague is working intensively with the region to support plans and ambitions and to allow them to grow and prosper. This happens, for example, in the recurring Brainport board meetings. The next hurdle to be jumped to enable the growth of the Brainport region is the ‘Brainport talent proposition’. Within this, educational institutions, companies, the municipality and Brainport Development outline what is needed to provide the region with enough talent to fill the explosive growth in the number of jobs.
So far, no money has been promised from The Hague. With the fall of the government and new elections looming, this uncertainty continues. "As long as the jump in scale is not supported with money from The Hague, we will have to find solutions ourselves," says chairman of the Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits. "We remain hopeful, the scale jump is not yet off the agenda.”
MINI-SCALE JUMP
Meanwhile, TU/e is not sitting still and is heading for organic growth to 15,000 students in 2027. "And we are going to make a mini-scale jump with the top notch research facility that ASML is going to build on our campus. But we still hope that funds will come from The Hague so that we can grow even more to provide the industry with the much-needed highly skilled engineers," Smits concludes.
Our stories about the scale jump
