Bringing love back into learning at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

In one of our UIIN Masterclasses, I spoke to Marlies van der Wee, Senior Lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS), about the role of collaborative education in the transition to a regenerative economy.

Marlies views education as an act of love – love for the world, for those around us, and for the process of learning itself. She approaches education through the lens of transformative learning and innovation, and regeneration, supporting the design, implementation and reflective evaluation of community-based challenge-based learning projects within the School of the Built Environment.

Marlies calls upon the unique potential of higher vocational education to link the professional growth of students and staff to the collective purpose of fostering a thriving and flourishing society for all.

Her home department, The School of the Built Environment, is striving to integrate this philosophy into its learning programmes. The School encourages students and teachers to move beyond lecture halls and into the city, learning with and from residents at community-based learning hubs where they collaborate with societal partners and professional practitioners. Here, students work on urgent local challenges such as climate adaptation, inequality, and environmental justice alongside those who are directly affected by those challenges. For example, in one of Marlies’ classes, water management students worked with residents, to develop climate adaptation solutions for the neighbourhood.

People in an urban neighbourhood might not have a university degree, but they are experts on their own streets.

Marlies van der Wee, Senior Lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS)

By engaging collaboratively with real-world issues in their locality, students undergo a process of deep and experiential learning that transforms their approach to knowledge, recognising that community knowledge is an essential form of expertise. This creates a two-way exchange where students, teachers and residents all contribute and benefit. These programmes give students access to deeply valuable, and otherwise ‘hidden’ knowledge, which contributes to their holistic understanding of their disciplines and the real-world challenges they address.

Beyond traditional education

Marlies shares that these programmes “address the student as a whole person”, and this is evident in the learning offering. The structure of these programmes has hands-on community projects at the core, and therefore, differs greatly from traditional academic learning. Students receive supporting theoretical lectures and workshops on systems thinking, sustainability, and regenerative development. Alongside this, they also receive sessions on personal development through coaching, reflection, and resilience-building.

According to Marlies, “As soon as you start assessing, you stop learning”, which is why the programmes try to limit reliance on exams and assessments as much as possible; these forms of assessment are not necessary when students receive first-hand experiential feedback from the environment and the people they are engaged with. The programmes also emphasise time for contemplation and reflection, both individually and with their peers.

It is not necessarily a smooth transition to adopt these kind of learning practices. In the initial stages of the programme, it is possible that students are uncomfortable and frustrated; it is likely that this type of learning does not fit into their perceptions of what education is.

At some point, they realise that their actions matter, their choices have consequences, and they have the power to work on issues they truly care about.

Marlies van der Wee, Senior Lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS)

However, at some point, students realise that their work truly matters, that their choices have real consequences, and that they can focus on issues they deeply care about. There are numerous projects and challenges in the neighbourhoods around us, and no matter what discipline they come from, students can contribute meaningfully. This sense of purpose comes from knowing their efforts add value to the work of community organisations and professional partners, making a tangible difference in the local environment.

A commitment to long-term engagement: “Our Promise to the City“

 A strength of RUAS’s community partnerships model is its long-term commitment. RUAS is committed to building and nurturing these relationships over time, making sure that the communities feel they are a supported and equal partner. To this end, the university created a manifesto called Our Promise to the City. The manifesto revolves around four values:

• Equality: Collaborating with everyone in the city on an equal basis, recognising that everyone has valuable ideas, and that we all have things to learn from each other.
• Proximity: Students and teachers are onsite in community centres working with partners on their challenges, not in faraway lecture halls.
• Reciprocity: Students, teachers and local partners collaborate over time, learning from each other and creating lasting value. Students develop competencies and disciplinary skills, while residents gain knowledge on relevant topics like climate adaptation, as well as benefitting from any interventions that come from the students’ work.
• Long-term engagement: By maintaining a lasting presence in neighbourhood hubs and community centres, researchers and facilitators ensure continuity in collaboration, even as students naturally come in and out. This sustained commitment allows for deeper relationships with local organisations and meaningful, long-term impact through ongoing partnerships.

Collaboration with societal partners doesn’t mean we can just jump into the city, work on a project so that our students get their grades and then move away again.

Marlies van der Wee, Senior Lecturer at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS)

What’s needed to make this work?

To make collaboration with community partners work effectively, Marlies emphasised that it is crucial to have dedicated facilitators who can establish and sustain relationships. An educator’s primary focus is on teaching and supporting students, which often means that building and maintaining external partnerships falls outside of their regular work hours. The dedicated support of partnership facilitators ensures that long-term, meaningful community engagement can take place, benefiting both students and the community while allowing educators to focus on their teaching responsibilities.

A holistic approach to student growth

By learning with local communities, students engage not just intellectually, but physically and emotionally with the world. As Marlies puts it, they are “learning with their hands and feet, not just with their brains in distant and isolated classrooms”. Students who have taken part in the programme reported that it has improved their confidence, given them a purpose and tapped into their intrinsic motivation to make a difference and have a tangible impact on the world around them. To sum up her vision, Marlies shared: “My hope is that collaborative learning with societal partners enables my students to call upon their own love for the world”.

Ready for more?

To dive deeper into how universities can support the shift towards regenerative systems through education, innovation, and community collaboration, take a look at our brief The role of universities in building regenerative economies, where we explore the concept of regenerative economies, its main challenges, and the role of universities in developing this economic approach. 

Tasha Day (author) is a Project Officer at UIIN, where she undertakes research activities and creates content on a wide variety of topics including entrepreneurship education, sustainability and research valorisation.