The Codarts Student Life team has won a Dutch Higher Education Premium award. The announcement was made by Minister Dijkgraaf of Education, Culture and Science at the annual Comenius Festival on 12 May.
The Codarts Student Life programme focuses on the well-being of students in general and on optimising the physical and mental health of students in the performing arts. The team will receive 500.000 euros (third prize) to further develop the programme.
Wilma Franchimon, chair of the Executive Board: “High praise for the Codarts Student Life team. Ten years ago, department head Stephanie Keizer and her team started this innovative programme for the performing arts. It has now grown into an internationally leading programme both in the performing arts and beyond. Student Life exemplifies our vision that students’ well-being is an integral part of talent development.”
Codarts Student Life
The Student Life programme is based on three interrelated pillars: education, support, and research. It consists of a Health and Wellbeing curriculum, (para)medical screening, monitoring physical and mental health, and providing advice and guidance in matters of housing, insurance, and physical and mental complaints. What’s unique about the Student Life programme is that the aforementioned pillars are not separate entities but work together in an integrated manner. This educational initiative leads to fewer injuries, less dropout and improves the self-regulating ability of students.
The unique ‘Team Around the Artist’ approach ensures that students are always centrally supported by the Performing Arts Health Centre, which consists of health professionals with a background in either the performing arts or top sports.
Read the interview with department head Stephanie Keizer about 10 years of Student Life.
The Dutch Higher Education Premium
The Dutch Higher Education Premium was established to underline the high quality of education at universities and universities for applied sciences and also as a token of appreciation for teachers and teaching teams delivering top performances. In 2021 the team of the RASL minor Re-imaging Tomorrow through Arts and Sciences was awarded a Higher Education Premium of € 500,000. RASL is a collaboration of Codarts Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Willem de Kooning Academy/University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam.
