The committee - which visited Eindhoven and Tilburg in the past few days - speaks highly of the efforts made by the two universities. “We have experienced a lot of enthusiasm and can see the innovative power of this initiative. The business community has a strong need for data science specialists. The preconditions are in place: good lecturers, an excellent network and great dynamism. It’s also good to see that the two universities are advancing at an identical pace.”

The committee is pleased with the strong research component in the envisaged programs. “The integrated whole is in place, both administratively and logistically. The learning trajectories must keep following the innovative developments very closely later on. Still, we have every confidence in this as well. We recognize the formulated skills and professional profiles.”

The Bachelor section is commended for its great intrinsic recognizability. The committee will issue an unconditional positive recommendation for this to the NVAO.

For the Master course some more homework will need to be done: “Here, too, we have gained a very positive impression. Not least so due to the ‘exceptional’ location of Mariënburg in Den Bosch. However, we do think that the ‘entrepreneurial competencies’ learning trajectory can be elaborated further. In particular, it should be made more visible where these competencies are to be found in the curriculum, and also in the testing.” Conclusion: the Master is granted a ‘conditional positive’.

TU/e Rector Frank Baaijens is pleased with the outcome: “We have been working on this with a big team. As is evident if you look at the big turnout. And we’re not there yet. The start of the course is the greatest part of the work, but it’s also the most charming part. I hope that some of our enthusiasm will spill into the students we can welcome later. I’m convinced that this is going to happen.”