Do you want more attention for workload reduction? Do you think embedding sustainability in education and research is important? Or should the Executive Board focus on expanding the campus toward Hondsheuvels? These – or entirely different – themes may be prioritized by students and staff when a student assistant presents them with a case of colored chips. Each color represents one of six themes per case, and there are two different versions. In the space of four days, the student assistants will visit most TU/e buildings.

Neuron

Tess Grobben is one of them, speaking to as many people as possible in the Lounge in Neuron on Monday. “I see students look a little confused at first when they hear the phrase ‘institutional plan’, but after I explain to them that they’re being asked for input, they immediately adopt a more active attitude. I notice that students are quite involved.” In the first hour, she had an estimated eighty chips selected.

She notices a lot of yellow chips being chosen, which in her suitcase represent workload reduction, as well as a lot of blue ones. “Those are about the importance of cybersecurity. People selecting them often add that any attention paid to this issue is long overdue, given the attack earlier this year.”

The Industrial Design student herself also chose yellow. “It’s not an issue for me personally, but I’m noticing that for many friends at SSRE the workload is really high. At Biomedical Engineering in particular, there’s a lot of mandatory attendance and less room for self-study. And I’ve also noticed stress among Built Environment students.”

Helix

In Helix, Geert Langhout (Mechanical Engineering student) goes around with a different case. “I try to strike up a conversation with everyone and ask them follow-up questions. Student engagement varies here. What stands out as a general annoyance is miscommunication. But I don’t feel like there are a lot of people in Helix that need to vent their frustration.”

The chips selected by TU/e students and staff are put into a bag and used as input by the institutional plan working group in building the framework of the 2026-2030 institutional plan, which is available on the intranet.

More than anything, the suitcases serve as conversation starters to get TU/e employees to complete the survey on the intranet. This can be done until April 4. The twelve themes are also listed there, but now the respondent has to indicate which three they find most important and which three they find least important.

Grobben and Langhout ask everyone to scan the QR code that sends you directly to the digital questionnaire. Grobben: “I stay with people until they’ve made the scan. Whether they actually complete the survey afterwards is up to them. But I think they do.”

All relevant info and the link to the survey can be found on the intranet.