Time to head back to university

Since 2003, when it launched, the University of Luxembourg has experienced a significant increase in student numbers, opened a new campus in Belval in 2015, and is constantly proposing new courses at all academic levels.

And this academic year makes no exception. 

New courses at bachelor and master's level are launching, a number of courses have also been moved from the university's Limperstberg campus to Belval for this academic year, while students at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication are celebrating the start of a full academic year on the new campus. 

All together, no less than 6200 students are currently registered and headed back to the university earlier this week. 

Luxemburger Wort spoke to Romain Martin, Vice-President for academic affairs at the University of Luxembourg, to find out what is new at the university and learn what the future holds for Luxembourg's only public higher education institution.

“ The university's Belval campus hosts 3600 students

New courses on offer

The new academic years brings additional programmes, including a bachelor degree in computer science and three master's degree in border studies, logistics and supply chain management and architecture.

Complementing the existing degree in computer science, a new bachelor course is being offered and targets students wishing to pursue a more academic track.

The new master's programmes have a more professional approach and are the results of a number of partnerships forged between Luxembourg's university and international universities as well as local professionals.

For instance, the university has partnered up with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer the master's in logistics and supply chain management, a one -year course taught in English.

Another master's programme launched this academic year is the programme in border studies that has been developed together with the University of Lorraine (France), the Saarland University (Germany) and the University of Kaiserslautern (Germany).

The Master in Architecture has "long been asked for" and will focus on spatial and urban planning. The course has been created together with local architects and is designed to address Luxembourg's specific needs.

“ We are putting emphasis on transversal skills, skills that will enable you to continue to learn

Strong focus on entrepreneurship 

The university has also created an entrepreneurial skills initiative, designed to help students develop new skills and learn about innovation. 

Romain Martin outlines that students have so far shown a "strong interest" in entrepreneurship, with more than 130 students having enrolled in the first series of courses that took place at the Welcome Day last Friday, an event dedicated to newly enrolled students.   

In the future, students at all academic levels will have an entrepreneurship offering to match their educational curriculum, and in the long run, a number of ECTS credits will be allocated to those enrolled in this type of learning.

"We are putting emphasis on what you can call transversal skills, skills that will enable you to continue to learn. The entrepreneurial skills initiative goes into that direction," explains Martin.

“ The university will open its own start-up incubator

Through the initiative, the university not only aims to support students wishing to create start-ups, but it also seeks to foster more creativity and help them become problem-solvers, come up with ideas and learn how to pitch it.

"All these soft skills can be very well exercised through an entrepreneurial initiative," Martin explain, adding that the university is planning to open its own start-up incubator which will be initially housed in the student's lounge and later in the  Maison des Arts et des Etudiants (House of Arts and Student life). 

Future facilities 

Investing in more courses and complementary activities for students, the university is planning to open the House of Arts and Student Life in spring 2018.

Although it doesn't have an arts programme currently on offer, the new premises will be used for various arts activities and cultural seminars. 

The university's music activities will be carried out in the new facilities, which will also house offices and meeting rooms for student associations. The building will equally be home to a student lounge and will accommodate facilities where student parties can be hosted in the future.

“ The university of Luxembourg aims to attract more non-students to the Belval campus

As part of its expansion plan, the university is set to also open a learning centre that will be used by both students and the public. The centre is expected to open in one year, just in time for the next academic year.

Martin examplains that the centre will help the university to attract more non-students to the campus.

"We hope to attract high-school students and classes that come here or just have people from the surrounding municipalities come in." In a year's time, in the next academic year, we are confident that we will be able to open our learning centre where there will be modern collaborative learning spaces, enhanced technology besides the traditional library which will also be available in the building," he said. 

More partnerships in the future 

The vice-president for academic affairs argues that the university is developing along with other actors based in or around Belval.

 "We are open to the society and are looking for stakeholders to engage with. The university is already working with high schools because "we want people to come to the campus either before they become students or after that". 

The university is also reaching out to the local municipalities in the surroundings and aims to foster collaboration with other scientific actors present on campus. "We are trying to develop an ecosystem around the campus." 

Martin explains that "If you think about the Rifkin study which outlines a new societal model, this is certainly something where we could play a role together with the surrounding ecosystem".

“ The university is moving towards a new societal model and is ready to embrace new technologies and future digital trends

"We can think of smart mobility, we have people working on that and it would be logical to say that smart mobility can happen around this campus."

It is for this reason that the university has started investing in lifelong learning and focuses more on fostering an entrepreneurial culture among students. In the future, more people are expected to create start-ups in Belval and at that point, the ecosystem "must be ready to accommodate them".

Martin outlines that Belval could become a "smart campus, within a smart region and city" but that collaboration is key. 

 "We can team up with other partners and work on this together. We will have further partnerships to announce in the years to come. For instance, around circular economy".

The university is indeed moving towards a new societal model and is ready to embrace new technologies and future digital trends.

"There are challenges, but also opportunities coming with digitalisation. We should be the place to showcase all that," argued Martin. 

"Safe environment"

When asked about what makes the university attractive to students outside of Luxembourg, he spoke about the job opportunities available in the country and referred to the "safe environment" that Luxembourg offers, one "where you find good opportunities to create your own job, to get independent through a start-up."

Martin believes that Luxembourg is in an ideal situation and is well positioned to attract students from all over the world. It is thanks to the university's international and multilingual character, its small size and continued focus on developing transversal skills, as well as peer-learning and digitalised learning, that students choose to study at the university.

But being attractive to students doesn't mean that the university should increase its foot print and number of students. There is no intention to spike the number of enrollments in the years to come.

He warns that "it's very important for us to remain an university that is more individualised where you have the opportunity to know the teachers, where we can introduce tutoring systems."

“ The university seeks to engage more with its alumni

He added that the university seeks "to foster this aspect - being more individualised and taking care of its students". 

Rather than attract new students, from a strategic point of view, the university wants to engage more with its alumni because "they are our best ambassadors to the outside world and on the other hand, we want to have them come back to the university at a later stage," he explained.

Future strategic plans 

Given its small size, the vice rector warns that the university cannot be leading in all research fields, and that the focus should be on a number of areas that match the needs of the country. 

"If you look at computer science, we have good results and prominent research in the field of computer science and this matches the country's "Digital Lëtzebuerg" initiative."

While the university should continue to build on the expertise that has been developed over the last 14 years, starting research projects in new business areas, that are aligned with the government's agenda, could be interesting for the university. For example, space exploration.

“ In the field of education, the university should be seen as an institution of higher education offering a distinct profile in terms of the study experience

"If competitive funding opportunities come, the University of Luxembourg will not say it's not interesting for us especially as many technological challenges lie in the area of computer science. There is already work done on satellite communication at the university. " 

Another area where the university excels is European law. The expertise could be expanded to new fields of activity such as space exploration that is highly dependant on legal regulations. 

"This new area of research would fit well with what is being developed at the university" Martin says.

Language courses for students and the public

The new academic year also marks the opening of a Belval office by the National Institute of Languages (INL). The office will be based on the university's premises at Maison du Savoir and will target both students and the general public.

The decision to open an INL office in Belval is not a coincidence according to Martin. "Our students will sit together will people from the surrounding communes and learn languages on campus."

In the future, Martin expects the university to be leading in a number of key areas such as education because as the only university in Luxembourg, "the country relies on us".

He further argued that "in the field of education, the university should be seen as an institution of higher education offering a distinct profile in terms of the study experience."

“ Luxembourg is in an ideal situation and is well positioned to attract students from all over the world

While different elements are shaping at the moment, the university's internationalism, multilingualism, innovative learning methods and new technology should come together and build the university's profile, "making visible what we stand for and why students should choose the University of Luxembourg specifically."

Nonetheless the future also holds a number of challenges, mainly related to the surrounding environment and the development of the wider ecosystem of which the university is a core element. 

"Many things will also be dependent on the development of the surrounding structures, but on the other hand, being the only university in the country and having a direct exchange with the different stakeholders around us, we are well prepared to take up this challenge," Martin said.

“ The university is part of an ecosystem based around the Belval campus

A new four-year plan, setting out the key strategic areas for the university in the near future, will be rolled out in early 2018.

With negotiations still ongoing, the plan will set the tone for the university's internal development in the next four years and will also show how Luxembourg's only public higher education institution will support Luxembourg's development in the areas of research, employment and entrepreneurship.

Facts and figures

There are 6200 students registered at the University, but the final number of newly registered students will only be known in October, as registrations are still underway.

The Belval campus now hosts 3600 students. At the end of 2016, 3,000 of students were enrolled in a bachelor degree, 1,500 students followed a  master's programme, while about 640 people pursued doctoral studies and 1000 students were enrolled in other types of courses.

There are 120 different student nationalities. 45% of students have a Luxembourgish nationality, 54% of students come from one of the EU member states, while 16% originate in a non-EU country.

Every year, 600 students enrolled at the university are participating in mobility programmes such as Erasmus+, while the university welcomes about incoming 300 students as part of the such mobility schemes.

(Roxana Mironescu, roxana.mironescu@wort.lu, +352 49 93 748)