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Portfolio holder External Affairs, Entrepreneurship & Innovation

EXTErnal relations

Quinty's main task is to maintain all Student Union contacts with the business community. The main task is to realise new partnerships, long-term cooperations with companies. The main goal is to gain benefits for Union participants, students and student entrepreneurs at the University of Twente, but also for the company itself. This added value can be both direct and indirect. Direct added value is created by, for example, discounts or training courses from professional organisations which directly affect the student. Indirect added value is created by financial resources that an organisation makes available to the Student Union. This is then returned to the students through sponsorship.

The entire process, from the first idea and contact to signing and maintaining the partnership, is supervised by Tom. The External Relations portfolio holder is also responsible for the external relations consultations with study associations and the consultation with the municipality once every six weeks.

entrepreneurship & INNOVATion

The Student Union is responsible for the policy regarding student entrepreneurship at the University of Twente. Together with Novel-T and ETM,  facilitates and stimulates student entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship offers students many opportunities to develop themselves and gain experience. The Student Union and Novel-T provide a great deal of support for this. The reason the Student Union is involved in student entrepreneurship is that it offers enormous opportunities for students. The experiences gained are unique and cannot be developed within the study.

As portfolio holder for Entrepreneurship, Tom is taking stock of the needs of student entrepreneurs. On the basis of this, he tries to take action so that the desired support is realised. An example of this is the realisation of the Incubase in February 2020 in cooperation with Novel-T. This is the start-up incubator in the area and offers start-ups a place to work, follow programmes and network.

It is also important to coordinate everything with the various organisations involved. There are numerous business clubs, Novel-T, the Business & Science Park, the Innovation Lab, ETM and more. It is up to the portfolio holder for Entrepreneurship to attune the services offered to the wishes of the student entrepreneur. Tom is the spider in the web who knows everything and can make the right connection between the wishes of student entrepreneurs and the existing supply.

Study: Biomedical Engineering
Active at: A.S.V Taste, D.H.C Drienerlo, S.V. Paradoks
Comes from: Amersfoort, Nederland
E-mail: q.w.d.vanderhelm@utwente.nl

As a 19-year-old, I came to Enschede to study. Relatively later than most other first-year students, but that was because I did havo before vwo. At hbo I could not find a study that was the perfect balance between engineering and health. So, by chance, I came across UT's open day for the study Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine study. After that day, I was almost certain, I was going to study Biomedical Technology in Enschede. It was mainly the atmosphere that attracted me and I was never wrong about that. It felt like a warm welcome when I started studying here. I ended up in an active girls' house with 4 others and at 2 minutes cycling distance from the city centre. During the Kick-In, I had a super fun and active do-group where I made many friends, most of whom I still see regularly to this day. In those 10 days, I discovered everything that is possible within Enschede, from sports clubs to student associations.

In my first year, I decided to focus on completing my studies but I soon found out that I wanted to do more besides studying, I was here also for the active student life. So in my second year, I joined A.S.V. Taste despite Corona. Here I formed a year club with 6 other girls, whom I see every Tuesday. From this year, I also started playing hockey at DHC Drienerlo in Ladies 2, and can be found at the hockey club every Wednesday and Sunday. During my first year at Taste, I did the ABC committee where we organised activities for the freshmen of A.S.V. Taste. Later, I also became active in DAS (student party within the University Council).

Despite everything I had already done or experienced, I felt like something was still missing. I wanted  more out of my student life besides studying and being active within associations. When I met Joris (my predecessor) through a mutual friend he told me about his position at the SU and that’s when I realised, this is what I wanted to do.

I am very excited to be portfolio holder of External Affairs, Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Not only do I hope to develop myself within this position, but also to reach as many students as possible and give them the opportunity to develop themselves outside of their studies. I think should be proud to be the most Entrepreneurial University of The Netherlands, and I definitely hope to contribute to this. But if you have any ideas or feedback points regarding this portfolio, feel free to let us know! After all, we are here for you.