Yesterday I was allowed to open the Academic Year together with Anke van Hal on Nyenrode Business University.
I was asked to give a thought-provoking speech about the sustainable state of the world and what that could mean for Nyenrode.
Interestingly, Nyenrode University was founded in 1946 by companies such as KLM, Philips, Unilever and Shell.
The intention was that the University would contribute to the reconstruction of the Netherlands after the 2nd World War.
In this way, this impact-driven university became a forerunner in the field of sustainability but also spirituality, thanks to pioneers such as Gerard Keijzers
and Paul de Blot, followed by internationally recognized successors such as Andre Nijhof and Anke van Hal.
At its core, my plea was a moral appeal to the Nyenrode community for a new impetus to put the major transformative challenges we face more central to education and research.
After all, society and education are changing faster than universities can handle. This also requires a transition to personalised, interdisciplinary education in which
the major themes are central, such as: sustainability and circularity, peace and security, digitalisation, inequality, health and, above all, the personal transition.
In this way, Nyenrode can train the leaders of the future. Not the leaders who are scared and cautious and put on the brakes when things start to storm, but rather leaders
with guts, courage and authenticity, with a sense of empathy and who can think systemically. who can link thinking big to doing small.
I will continue to follow this transformation with interest!
Jan Rotmans
Captain of transition
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