Digital technologies are essential to the good functioning of Maastricht University – how we teach, conduct research, and process administrative information. In recent years, those of us studying and working at UM have become aware of the limits and possibilities of digital technologies.
The hack in December 2019 made it impossible for us to conduct our normal activities for several weeks. During the pandemic, we were able to make use of digital technologies to offer education and to remain in contact with colleagues at UM and beyond.
Both of these crises revealed the dependence of the university on well-functioning digital systems for research, education and administrative operations. The first revealed the consequences of not having access to digital infrastructure. The second confirmed how central digital technologies have become to education and research.
Rather than simply reacting to (extreme) circumstances, this PREMIUM project will help the Task Force to think about what steps they can take to ensure that the university makes the best use of digital technologies in the future. Students are asked to develop scenarios about how technologies can be designed and used to support the core values of the university: diversity and inclusion, sustainability, mutual respect, democracy, and transparency.
The project starts from two assumptions:
1. (digital) technologies and people mutually shape who we are, how we work together and communicate;
2. ‘the university’ includes students, academic staff, accountants, managers, cleaners, librarians, ICT support and more.
In this PREMIUM project, students are invited to do research and contribute to developing a vision for the digital future of the UM.
Students will present their results to the recently established Task Force, charged with developing scenarios for a ‘digital UM 2030’.