A remarkable development in Drachten: there will be a university education. The University of Groningen (RUG) is starting a post-master’s study there.
The two-year, internationally recognized technical course Autonomous Systems is reserved for people who already have a master’s degree. They will apply the knowledge they will soon gain at innovative, technological companies that together form the Drachten innovation cluster (ICD).
This is a so-called engineering doctorate program that connects science and industry. This is brand new for the RUG, but technical universities have known about it for some time. The RUG wants to strengthen its own technical profile and the image of Drachten and the North as an innovative centre.
From September
The training is scheduled to start in September. The RUG is busy with the composition of the staff. A scientific director has already been found. The program will soon fall under the Faculty of Science and Engineering. A subsidy of 2 million euros will be available from the so-called Just Transition Fund. It’s European money.
The study is part of a new campus to be established in Drachten, where seven parties will work together even more closely than they already do. In addition to the ICD and the RUG, this also includes the Nij Smellinghe hospital, Philips, the municipality of Smallingerland, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences and the Firda vocational college.
Healthcare technology and manufacturing industry
In the near future, a quartermaster will be investigating what still needs to be done in Drachten to establish the campus. A location near Oliemolenstraat and De Lange West, where Philips is also located, is being considered as a location. 100,000 euros is available for the research. All parties contribute their share.
Healthcare technology and the innovative manufacturing industry are the spearheads on the campus. “This must of course strengthen our economy,” says councilor Pieter van der Zwan. “In addition, there will soon be a continuous learning path between intermediate vocational education, higher professional education and university. That’s how you retain young people. We are building further on many initiatives that already exist in Drachten.”
More intensive
For example, the so-called Skills building is already located on the Philips site, where technology students from higher professional education, intermediate vocational education and university use the most modern equipment to carry out assignments and research for high-tech companies in the three northern provinces. NHL Stenden has a two-year higher professional education course there: industrial automation and robotics.
“With the arrival of the Campus, we want to do more in Drachten,” says director Marc Otto of the college. “We may start a healthcare technology training course there, but we may also do more research. And in any case, we will work more intensively with universities and secondary vocational education. I believe that fundamental research, its application and implementation will soon be clustered nowhere as in Drachten.”
‘The North needs this’
Chairman Binne Visser of the ICD is delighted. “We have to be a little less modest here, please let Drachten develop into the Silicon Valley of the North. The campus can help us with that. Let’s see. This is very nice, Drachten, Friesland and the northern provinces need this.”