The role of the student assessor is to advise the Executive Board on student interests, with a focus on issues related to students and education. The assessor will attend Board meetings every week and participate in discussions about policies to be implemented, so the perspective of students and education can be taken into account at an early stage. Close contact with students, student councils and all kinds of student associations is important to get an idea of the current issues different students are dealing with.

Areas of focus: internationalisation and the binding study advice

Maarten (20): ‘I look forward to getting to work as a student assessor. The UvA has many important challenges ahead of it, such as the binding study advice and internationalisation. I look forward to representing the students’ perspective on these issues. I am currently a member of the Central Student Council, as a representative of the Faculty of Medicine, working on the focus areas of decentralised selection, the binding study advice and flexible learning. In this role, I am also a member of the University Committee on Education (UCO). In the coming year, I expect my experience with the Central Student Council will serve me well. I’m about to complete my third year of Medicine, so I will be able to focus on my role as student assessor for the entire year before starting my medical clerkships.’

Various student perspectives as input

Peter-Paul Verbeek, rector magnificus and chair of the appointments committee: ‘The thing about Maarten is that he is good at connecting people and can present his ideas very clearly. This made a good impression on the selection committee. He also has a clear vision of the role of student assessor, which involves bringing various student perspectives together and presenting them as input to the Board. At the Central Student Council, he worked on several dossiers related to study programme content, so we think he'll be a good fit in this regard.’

Getting to know a lot of people

How does Maarten intend to get to know the minds of the students? ‘I plan on visiting a lot of people, starting with all of the Faculty Student Councils. I suspect several issues will come up during the year that no one could have predicted, and I plan to keep my finger on the pulse. Good thing I’m already used to long deliberations. The rest of the time, I will continue working at the Dutch Transplant Foundation as an organ donation professional, meeting with friends and expanding my collection of modern art.’