As a professional, it is important to develop throughout your life, to be able to respond to current developments in society, in the changing labour market and in ever-changing organizations. The partners within the EWUU alliance (TU/e, WUR, UU, UMCU) are working on a joint approach in the field of Life Long Learning (LLO), and they are also doing so together with other Dutch universities in the course Working Together on LLO.
Severina Grotenhuis, project manager Life Long Learning at Utrecht University: “Within the EWUU alliance, we combine our knowledge and experiences in the field of Lifelong Development. In this way, we enable professionals to gain the knowledge and skills to contribute to the major challenges in our society.”
Strengthening Lifelong Development
“The connection of LLO colleagues and experts within EWUU was already in place and there was also close contact with the LLO project leaders from other Dutch universities. Together we have set up an online knowledge base and hold an annual symposium. When it became clear during a conference that everyone was facing similar issues, the idea arose to jointly strengthen the LLO at universities and universities of applied sciences. By pooling knowledge, sharing experiences and good examples and by bringing together the various areas of expertise in the field, we can make a greater contribution to further training of professionals. It is also nice to see that we can make a major contribution in this course from the EWUU alliance EWUU. For example, the four EWUU institutes jointly provide five of the nine LLO experts in the various themes.”
The first edition
In the first edition of the Working Together on LLO, current developments, internal and external policy, and financing were discussed, as well as content and didactics and target groups and marketing.
Course participant Michelle Waardenburg is a project management officer at Erasmus University. She works with other experts on lifelong development. “Lifelong development goes beyond the acquisition of knowledge. It is mainly about personal development, according to Michelle: “It is nice to see that participants grow and develop during a course. And I think it is special that as a participant during the Collaborating on LLO course, I was able to experience that too. I have grown and gained more insights, and through more self-confidence I can also be more active and with more certainty at the table. I can apply this in my organizational role, taking care of planning and the preconditions, and in coordination with the subject matter experts, such as program coordinators and educational developers.”
“For me, the interaction with experts and the openness and willingness to share knowledge within the group are paramount,” says Michelle. The knowledge was practically applicable, such as the tools for process design within the organization. One of the eye-openers for me was about the pricing of the courses. In my practice, not everything is directly applicable yet, such as some calculation models for pricing, but they do form a valuable basis.”
“I would definitely recommend this course,” says Michelle. In particular, the practical applicability, the interactive set-up and the enthusiasm of the LLO experts stay with me. And I think it’s special that the participants, in a way competitors, shared knowledge and experiences with each other in an open and equal way. This bottom-up approach ensured that everyone could really learn from each other and grow together”.
EWUU alliance Life Long Learning
Severina: “I am pleased that this course, together with the other Dutch universities, is taking place again. It is geared towards employees of universities and universities of applied sciences who want to be good interlocutors in the field of LLO within their own institutions. Follow the link to find out more about this course (Dutch only).
Do you work within the EWUU alliance and do you want to deepen and broaden your knowledge of Lifelong Development? Please contact the LLO expert at your institution:
- TU/e: Chantal Stevels
- WUR: Klaar Vernaillen
- UMCU: Romy van den Hoff