Impact at the Core is a program at Erasmus University Rotterdam that works on education within which students work together on solutions for societal problems. The program stems from the agreements that educational institutions and student unions made with the government. The agreement states that funds made available will be used to improve the quality of our education. We do this by funding, setting up and co-developing initiatives for impact-driven education. By that, we mean education in which our positive contribution to society plays a central role.
What we are all about: challenging students to work alongside societal stakeholders in order to locate the key properties of certain issues and to analyze these from a multitude of perspectives. This way, they come up with the building blocks of possible solutions together with fellow students, teachers and professionals from the field. The potential that our students have when they work together across disciplines is enormous. That is why Impact at the Core aims for interdisciplinary education wherever possible.
Businesses, organizations and governments call for collaboration with universities to find solutions to the problems that live in society. The resourcefulness and drive of our students can be used to do something good and useful, even while they are still within the educational environment. With impact-driven education, we challenge them to ask themselves: what is my strength, how can I contribute as a part of a team, what am I passionate about and what can I take back from this experience? This is how we involve students in the process of co-creation with stakeholders and researchers.
From students as well, we hear a call for education that matches their societal orientation and professional prospects. They ask us not only to teach them research methods and theory, but also to provide them with the skills and experience they will need to participate on the labor market and to contribute to solutions for the problems they feel passionate about.
Impact-driven education requires that we redefine the role of the teacher. Our academic staff members are eager to develop themselves; they see opportunities to involve students in their research and want to enable them to gain experience by letting them work on contemporary issues. Impact at the Core wants to give teachers the space to give substance to impact education in their own way. In terms of action from our part, this translates to ‘train the trainer’ courses and the organization of webinars and other events in which we introduce and discuss refreshing perspectives on education. The progress of our projects and the insights of our community of practice will be shared here, on our knowledge platform!
