StudentLines: better teaching, better alignment with the labour market

The new regional initiative StudentLines has been awarded almost €4 million in funding by the National Programme Groningen. Thanks to this investment, the University of Groningen (UG) and Hanze UAS Groningen can join forces to take the next step in constructing a sustainable infrastructure for teaching data and educational research.

StudentLines focuses on improving the quality of teaching and enhancing alignment between teaching, student well-being, and the labour market. This is realized by creating better connections between teaching data, research, and experience from the field. The institutes concerned will use the funding to construct a regional infrastructure designed to provide secure, responsible insight into teaching strategies, student well-being, study success rates, and the transition to the labour market. Developing a standardized, longitudinal data collection, supplemented with five pilot projects examining the relationship between teaching and regional challenges, is seen as an important part of this process. The funding confirms the importance of collaboration within the region and will enable Groningen to make structural improvements regarding educational innovation.

In this way, StudentLines will be supporting teachers, researchers, policy makers, and students. By gaining a better understanding of what works in teaching, institutes will be able to make more targeted investments in the study success, well-being, and opportunities for students in the region. In the long term, other institutes of higher and secondary education will be able to participate through the University of the North, allowing StudentLines to evolve into a broad-based regional knowledge platform. StudentLines is part of the Talent in the Region programme, run by the UG and Hanze UAS.

The Faculty of Spatial Sciences acts as secretary on behalf of the UG, and the UG’s Center for Information Technology takes care of the IT infrastructure. The Faculties of Economics and Business, and Behavioural and Social Sciences are also involved in this project.

At Hanze UAS, StudentLines is based within the Centre for Talent and Learning, through the Talent Development in Higher Education and Society, and Learning in Learning Communities lectorates. In addition, the Hanze UAS lectorates in Labour Market Transitions, Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship, and Communication, Behaviour and the Sustainable Society are involved.