Bart de Smit Vice Dean Faculty of Science
Bart de Smit has been appointed to the position of Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science for four years, as of 1 January 2019. After Han de Winde stepped down as Vice Dean in September, De Smit already took over his duties ad interim.
De Smit will be active as Vice Dean and Director of Education three days a week. He will also continue to work as Professor of Algebra and Number Theory at the Mathematical Institute.
The Director of Education is responsible for the education at the Faculty of Science in the broadest sense. He also provides a clear and well-supported facultary vision on education, that contributes to the direction of the faculty and the university. A specific focus in the upcoming years will be on improving quality assurance and educational logistics.
Education on the work floor
De Smit commits himself to a well-organized faculty with strong study programmes, he says. 'Let's carry out what is going well, and let's not hide what can be done better. There are many educational dossiers and plans for improvement, which we now take up in the faculty in a context of strongly increased student numbers, plans for new housing, limited means and signals about workloads that are too high. Therefore I have my attention focused more on the practices on the work floor than on the ambitious vistas.'
'Whether it concerns room scheduling, teacher professionalisation or quality agreements, my question will always be: how do we help our students and staff to do their work better and easier? I do hope to hear the answer to that question from the students and teachers themselves.'