Josée C.M. van Eijndhoven: Welcome Address
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A very warm welcome at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Today we celebrate the 90th anniversary of our University. We celebrate the fact that tomorrow, 8 November, ninety years ago the Nederlandsche Handels-Hoogeschool (Netherlands School of Commerce) was erected by its Founding Fathers, businessmen in Rotterdam. Their reason for founding the University was the need for highly educated young business people in the Rotterdam area. The origin of this University lies, therefore, in the needs of the city and its environment.
When, in 1966, the Medical Faculty Rotterdam was established, a like reason was at the basis of its founding. There was a deeply felt need for an academically oriented research and education facility in medicine and health care.
Even before the Medical Faculty came into existence a number of other Schools had been erected at the Hoogeschool. One of the earliest was the present Faculty of Social Sciences in 1963, forty years ago.
The various Schools merged in 1973 to become Erasmus University Rotterdam. We are very proud to be named after this great philosopher and humanist who was born in Rotterdam. We are not only proud because he was a great thinker, but also because he was a true European citizen. He lived in cities like Paris, London, Bologna, and Louvain, and died in Basel, Switzerland.
Erasmus University Rotterdam has grown in student numbers and is now in size the fourth University in the Netherlands. The University has also grown in number of Schools. Recently, however, we have entered a new phase. We have come of age (90, isn’t it?). We decided to focus on growing stronger in the areas we already cover.
With respect to research we already hold a strong position in a number of areas. Our top priority with respect to research is to generate and fetch in toptalent. Already at the beginning of their study at Erasmus University Rotterdam we want to spot scientific potentials and trigger them to indeed show their excellence.
We want our research to score high in accreditations and to be conducted in Research Schools for greater coherence and quality. Excellent research has to be embedded in international networks. Research should be oriented towards fundamental questions, but at Erasmus University Rotterdam we also want our research to be inspired by the needs of the society. This we owe to our forebears, but it is also the choice that we consciously make.
In the new strategic plan we choose to be a University with three domains, each with a strong societal orientation. The domains are Economics and Management, Medicine and Health, and Law, Culture, and Society. We are proud that today within each of the three domains we will bestow an outstanding scientist an honorary doctorate.
Having said this, I give the floor to professor Jan van Bemmel, rector magnificus of this University, for an exploration on today’s theme: Research is People.
He will focus on People in Research at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
