“The 3TU.Federation has laid a solid foundation for collaboration between the three universities of technology in the Netherlands,” he says. “We now have to reinforce what we already have and concentrate upon what is happening abroad, both close at hand and further afield. With our excellent range of research and education, we can play at the top of the league.”
Delft’s Van den Berg is looking forward to working with two new colleagues, as both Twente and Eindhoven have recently welcomed incoming chairmen to their boards. At Twente, Victor van der Chijs, former managing director of architecture firm OMA, took up the post on 1 October 2013. He shares Van den Berg’s ambitious outlook, adding that “the partnership is still not putting enough effort into the international promotion of our strong Dutch technological higher education”. Domestically, too, he has a clear position in mind. “3TU has to be more of an agenda-setting organisation across the broad domain of technology – education, research and industry – in the Netherlands.”
Taking up the helm at Eindhoven as of 1 March 2014 is Jan Mengelers, former chairman of the Board of Management of national applied research organisation TNO. "Netherlands compares itself in terms of scale and size as a city-state to a Chinese metropolitan area: lying on a river delta, with as many inhabitants, and at the moment still with a greater impact. It is essential that, using alliances such as the 3TU.Federation, we continue to strengthen our position as knowledge-based economy in the world. This allows us to use our knowledge focus areas to guide the world in addressing global challenges”, Mengelers says.