That one sentence – and why it is also about all of you
One year ago, I read in a vacancy text: ‘The President of the Executive Board connects the university to society, and the other way around.’ That one sentence stuck with me. Because I thought: that is my mission too!
Because again and again, I keep seeing what beautiful things happen if knowledge institutions and society can find each other. Questions from practice find their way to lecture rooms and labs, and in reverse, research results find their way outside to really mean something in our daily lives. This is how ideas gain momentum. That does not happen by itself: it requires another way of working. To the university, it means that the ‘outside world’ is already involved in research ideas from the start and that questions from outside are included in the setup of academic research (instead of only sharing it with them at the end of the ride).
The mission of Utrecht University to build the bridge between academia and society in order to use it to contribute to the big societal issues Utrecht, the Netherlands and the world are facing, is my mission too. Knowledge from and with society was, is and remains the guiding principle in my working life.
As Board President, I watch with sadness what happens if knowledge and society fail to meet each other that way. We see that – unfortunately – daily. The difference between sense and nonsense fades, and we are served ‘alternative truths’. This causes the crumbling of an important foundation for innovation, education and the democratic rule of law. Even though these make up the foundation to making the world a better place. This is the reason why the university has to be connected to society and vice versa.
This relationship between university and society gets an additional face to me in the form of our alumni. All of you move around outside of the university daily. In organisations, schools, institutions and corporations. All of you hopefully take Utrecht University with you while doing so. Not just as a part of your warm memories of your student days and the knowledge you gained back then, but also as a place where you were shaped as young adults. In your way of (critical) viewing, thinking, asking questions and considering. In the ways in which you now act as citizens and contribute to society in your own ways.
That way has developed in our university benches. From the festive moment of graduation onwards, alumni's ambitions to contribute to a better world with academia starts. The university and society are intertwined. Sometimes in big collaborations, sometimes in a conversation at the lunch table or a decision on the work floor. You are ambassadors of UU in society, and an essential link between the university and the whole wide world along with it.
Keep building that bridge, during big AND small moments: because that is the way in which Utrecht University keeps making a difference. Together, we ensure that the university is not just a place of knowledge, but also an active and positive force in the world outside of it. I want to do that and will also try to do this, and my name already speaks for me… (editor’s note: brug is Dutch for bridge).