The University of Groningen is an ambitious international research university with strong, thriving roots in the north of the Netherlands. The University creates and shares knowledge through outstanding research and education. With an academic tradition dating back to 1614 and a rich heritage, the University is a unique academic community with a strong sense of belonging and a culture of innovative education and research. The university consists of 11 faculties (1 in the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden) and employs 6,100 fte staff (including University Medical Center Groningen, UMCG) with more than 120 nationalities. The total number of alumni is135,000. The annual budget is approximately 900 million EUR.
In 2019 the university harbors 36,024 students with 8,575 international students following eduction in one (or more) of the 120 English-taught Master’s degree programmes and > 45 Bachelor’s degree programmes, of which >35 taught in English In research, the university employs 3,400 fte academic staff (400 full professors) of which one third is international. Approximately 3,200 PhD candidates (56% international) publish 550 PhD theses a year among 9,000 research publications and 18 patent applications (2019). At the University of Groningen, a high percentage of researchers with a PhD teach course units and incorporate recent research in their teaching. As a rule, the best researchers also participate in our degree programmes. Students are also often involved in current research projects. In addition to the focus areas of Healthy Ageing, Energy and Sustainability, we also try to find connections with current societal issues as far as possible. The University wants to be a close-knit academic community where staff and students feel involved and where they continuously learn from each other. Diversity in disciplinary, social and cultural backgrounds is conducive to this. By acquainting themselves with diverse perspectives, staff and students get to develop and make the most of their talents. In June 2019, a review of the University-wide implementation of the International Classroom (IC) was completed. A key factor here is the systematic training of academic staff, Continuous Professional Development (CPD), in the field of International Classrooms. The modular programme of the Erasmus+ EQUiip project (www.equiip.eu), launched in June
2019, is being used for this purpose. In December 2019, EQUiiP achieved a score of 85 out of 100 on criteria set by the European Commission and was awarded the ‘Erasmus+ Good Practice’ status. The Board of the University has made financial resources available so that it can provide and continue to provide expert support from the central University level to the faculties when deploying EQUiiP resources in their degree programmes. This contributes to the ongoing internationalization of the curriculum, in line with the ambitions and strategy of the University. The research group “Products and Processes for Biotechnology (PPB)” of the Faculty Science and Engineering of the UoG and headed by prof. dr. G.J.W. Euverink is involved in developing sustainable biotechnological process in the area of green and circular economy. Currently the group consists of 12 PhD students, 2 post-docs and two senior researchers and 1 one full professor. The staff is involved in teaching in bachelor and master programs of Industrial Engineering and Management and occasional in Environmental and Energy Sciences and Biomolecular Sciences in supervising master students in individual research projects.