Strategic Agenda

Our mission

We educate students to become highly qualified professionals for the jobs of today and tomorrow and develop practice-based knowledge and innovations that contribute to a sustainable society.

Talent for transition

Strategic Agenda 2023-2028

A summary of what we will be working on together in the coming years. Talent stands for educating professionals, our social mission. Transition stands for the rapidly changing world, with major societal issues that require our teaching, research, and students to do something different from what we were used to.

Download the Strategic Agenda 2023-2028

View the summary here

Four Societal Challenges

Sustainable Delta

Take the energy transition seriously: replace fossil fuels with non-emitting and renewable energy sources. Contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Future-proof economy

Working with new, meaningful economic models and contributing to circular production, services, and consumption chains. Making urban and port logistics chains more sustainable.

A vibrant community

Reducing gaps in education, health, wealth, and well-being and increasing social participation. Making the transition from healthcare to healthy living and increasing citizens’ self-sufficiency and resilience.

Smart & Social City

Responsible digitalisation and design of production processes, services, and infrastructure in and around the city.

Knowing what the future holds?

Our ambitions

Renewing our education model

By 2028, more than a third of our students who have the opportunity to do so will be involved in an interdisciplinary education focused on a societal issue, or in a workstudy arrangement.

Student Success.. a student-centred learning environment

All students feel welcome, safe, seen and valued. They develop as professionals and achieve appropriate qualifications.

Combining the power of education and research

By 2025, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences will have an agenda for impactbased teaching and research for all study programmes. By 2028, every student and lecturer will be exposed to practice-based research.

Expanding our programmes

In 2026, we will offer a range of programmes that are qualitatively aligned with labour market needs in shortage sectors and transition challenges. In 2028, this offer will be positioned and organised in such a way that we can quantitatively scale with labour market demand.

Views on digitalisation

By 2028, we have a proven track record of using digitalisation to improve the quality of our education, research, and organisation; to promote good and attractive employment practices; to strengthen our connection with society, and to increase our contribution to the challenges of transition.

Organisational development & implementation

The decision to focus on major societal challenges in addition to student success requires new ways of working and organising. The complexity of the tasks requires collaboration across disciplines, across existing organisational units and with different parties – both internally and externally.

Knowing what the future holds?

Our core values

Responsibility

We take responsibility by educating students who find their place in society and help society move forward. We take responsibility by helping shape social tasks.

Resilience

We see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow from. With that attitude, we train our students to become resilient professionals and gear our organisation to agility.

Connectedness

We bring people together. To (learn to) work together. To (learn to) live together. To (be able to) belong somewhere. A school where everyone feels welcome, safe, seen and known.

Justice

We give students access to equal opportunities in society, based on talents and ambitions. Our teaching and practical research contribute to reducing inequality of opportunity.

Strategic Agenda of RUAS

Our mission

Talent for transition