Loek Hermans, until May last year Education secretary, will be the independent chairman of the Steering Committee Sector Plan Technology. This club has been charged with presenting a joint educational profile for the technical universities of Delft, Eindhoven, and Twente.
Co-ordination of the research programmes will be dealt with later. In addition to Hermans, the Steering Committee consists of the chairmen of the three technical universities, G. van Luijk (Delft), A. Lundqvist (Eindhoven), and F. van Vught (Twente).
International competition with regard to university technical research and education is increasing rapidly. At the same time the interest in technical studies among potential students is decreasing. If the Dutch institutes want to keep up internationally, co-operation and division of tasks in a broad area (education, research, infrastructure, personnel) is absolutely necessary. The cabinet, employersÆ chairman Schraven, and Philips CEO Kleisterlee were quite outspoken on this subject in the past few months.
The aim of the steering committee is to promote the quality of education and research, to increase the attraction of the technical sciences, and to come to the best possible use of the available means (knowledge, skills, and funds).
