David Fernandez Rivas responds immediately. The professor at the Faculty of S&T is also co-owner of the spin-offs FlowBeams and BubClean. He says he would welcome a change of slogan. ‘Entrepreneurship is a distinctive quality of this university, and always has been. But bringing back the slogan isn’t really necessary.’
Connecting with society
According to Rivas, what is more important is for a university to tap into alternative sources of income when the government turns off the funding tap. ‘That also helps you connect better with society, because an entrepreneur needs to network and be visible. At the same time, that is important for UT’s licence to operate as a whole. Many people in Enschede don’t even know everything that happens here, let alone people outside the city.’
Associate professor Rainer Harms does not know exactly when the slogan was replaced. ‘But it’s still firmly ingrained in the mind of the average UT employee. I think one of the reasons for replacing it may have been that it had a slightly too capitalist undertone. As if all we do here is train money-grabbers, to put it bluntly. But it all depends on how you interpret the term entrepreneurship. Are you pursuing profit or values?’
UT mindset
Harms believes entrepreneurship is mainly about taking initiative. ‘Let’s be honest. I estimate that around 95 per cent of our students end up as employees. They don’t all have to start their own businesses. But they can adopt a UT mindset in their jobs. Thinking about how to improve processes, coming up with new ideas, daring to think outside the box, that is entrepreneurship too.’
Student Union board members Simone van den Heuvel and Luuk Hansman are certainly positive about the way UT puts the concept into practice. ‘You are given every opportunity to try something, to have the courage to take things on. This year on the Student Union board alone gives us the chance to literally learn how to govern. But every other student also gets the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial side,’ says Hansman. Van den Heuvel adds: ‘That is also why we very deliberately use the slogan ‘More than a degree’. As a student here, you are free to experiment with entrepreneurship, for example through Incubase, while Novel-T offers guidance in every area.’
Joost Steppé, UT’s director of Marketing and Communications, thinks Groen’s comment had everything to do with the moment. ‘Jitse is certainly right that we could do more to showcase our entrepreneurial spirit. I can assure him that work is being done on that. It now sounds like a binary choice: either one slogan or the other. I’m sure that’s not how he meant it, but on that stage, at that moment, he didn’t have the opportunity to elaborate.’
Entrepreneurial thinking
Steppé explains that entrepreneurship is still embedded in the ‘high tech, human touch’ philosophy. ‘We’ve simply broadened it a little. You can interpret entrepreneurship in two ways. On the one hand, as starting a company, but you can also learn to think entrepreneurially. UT is a small university, which is precisely what makes it personal and open-minded. Those are essential entrepreneurial qualities that can take you further.’ Harms agrees. ‘We have strong ties within the region and can work very closely together.’
A vehicle for Kennispark
According to Kennispark director Bertyl Lankhaar, the slogan is still very much alive in the region. ‘Historically, it is simply true as well. For Kennispark, UT is an important vehicle for start-ups and spin-offs, and really for the entire ecosystem here. That’s why I was so pleased to hear Gregor Halff, the new president of the Executive Board, say at the end of the afternoon that it will once again become an essential part of UT. I don’t know whether the slogan itself should return as part of the branding, but it should be more evident in what UT says and does.’
For her, entrepreneurship is mainly reflected in how teaching is organised and which qualities are emphasised. ‘An entrepreneur is part of society. That’s why it is so great that UT specifically tries to use technology to solve societal challenges. That naturally leads to companies and employment that help the region move forward.’
Invitation
Harms thinks it was fitting for Groen to raise the subject. ‘If you receive the award that is actually named after the person who came up with the concept of ‘the entrepreneurial university’, and you yourself are from the era when that slogan was still in use, it may seem as though UT has now taken a different direction. But perhaps UT isn’t as visible in his part of the country, or perhaps he doesn’t always keep quite such a close eye on us.’ He wants to return the question: ‘What would he suggest to make UT more entrepreneurial and more visible?’
Steppé agrees: ‘I hope Jitse keeps finding his way back to Enschede and is willing to talk to us about his ideas. They are always welcome.’
