Prince Constantijn: ‘Challenge the university... And be entrepreneurial about it!’

On a Friday night in February, the Garage at UtrechtInc was packed: student boards from nine different universities had come to the recurring DutchSE meet-up about student entrepreneurship. This time, Prince Constantijn van Oranje (Special Envoy at Techleap.nl) came to Utrecht University for a Q&A session with the students. It became a passionate plea for interdisciplinary team work, claiming your space and challenging the universities.

Sure, universities in the Netherlands are doing a lot of things well. But on the other hand, they could learn a thing or two from universities in other countries. And although the students shouldn't spend their valuable time in trying to get into university politics, Constantijn gave a few pointers on how universities could improve, and how students could help them. Universities should:
 

• Give students with a flourishing start-up, the same status as students that are also pro-athletes. This will help them to grow their company and finish their studies;
• Invest in working in teams, preferably interdisciplinary teams. Because "technical start-ups with only engineers as founders, are never the best start-ups". Students should find chances during their time at university to work together and learn from each other and other disciplines;
• Let students work with businesses. Finding solutions for businesses can be done in a very scientific way, whilst being extremely useful for students. This way, universities can be a key player in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

An internship at a start-up, is as relevant as an internship at Shell or Unilever.

Students, be entrepreneurial about it

But what can students do? Well, the 1960's method of sit-ins, wouldn't be effective. The Prince urged the students to be entrepreneurial about it:
 

• Students should create their own space, with their own agenda and make it such an event that universities will want to become a part of it. For example, Slush.org is completely student-driven and universities really want to get in on the action;
• Students should fight for doing their Master’s thesis or internship within a start-up environment. An internship at a start-up is as relevant as an internship at Shell or Unilever;
• And most of all: try to connect with university bodies like Centres for Entrepreneurship, and professors or policy makers. Showcase your desires, claim the quality you deserve and challenge the system in a pro-active way.

The Prince’s message was well received by the students. “These meet-ups are very valuable, they spark so much enthusiasm among the student boards,” says Sander Bos, student Liberal Arts and Sciences at Utrecht University and this year’s president at DutchSE and startup and education manager at UtrechtInc Students. After the Q&A session and some take-away food, the student boards discussed hot topics, like intellectual property and board recruitment, to exchange knowledge and explore possible collaborations

In the upcoming weeks, follow-up will take place mostly via phone calls. Sander: “We will check in how certain things are handled by each board to gather input for our next meet-up. And we’ll host a group call on validation programmes aimed at students at university incubators, like we have here at UtrechtInc.”

About DutchSE

DutchSE – SE standing for Students for Entrepreneurship – aims to improve the ecosystem for student entrepreneurship (i.a. by community building among local student boards). For Utrecht University, UtrechtInc Students is connected. Via recurring meet-ups, DutchSE inspires the communities with guest lectures and actively encourages knowledge exchange on topics relevant to student entrepreneurship, like intellectual property, early stage venture capital and entrepreneurship education.