Interview with Ewout Sanders EN

Ewout Sanders is a member of the management team and teaches at Leisure & Events Management. He was interviewed by Dirk Jilsen, third-year student.

How many students have applied by now for the Leisure & Events programme?
At the moment, we have more than 450 applications for our bachelor’s programme of Leisure & Events Management. That is about the same as last year around this time, when we ultimately started with 435 students in September.

How many students are Dutch and how many are international?
At the moment, we have an impressive number of 125 international applicants. Experience has shown that some of them decide to do something else at some point in the next couple of months. But the number of international applications (more than 25%) is bigger than last year around the same time.

Which nationalities have chosen the Leisure & Events Management programme?
I don’t have an up-to-date list, but when I look at the current first year, our students come from all over the world, for example Dubai, United States of America, Bulgaria, Australia, Indonesia, Romania, Finland, Italy and Turkey. But of course, students also come from closer to the Netherlands, like Germany, Belgium or France.

Which nationalities do the lecturers of the Leisure & Events Management programme have?
These are very different. Most lecturers are Dutch nationals, but several of these colleagues also have international experience. In addition, we have lecturers with English, Irish, Brazilian, Italian, Turkish or Bulgarian nationality.

Which companies and brands are working together with Leisure & Events?
Too many to mention! To begin with, there are about 250 students who perform a placement every year with organisations in the Leisure & Events industry. But we also work together with companies on projects or companies give assignments to our students.

Just think of partners in the live music & dance sector, such as ID&T, Mojo or Alda. Moreover, we cooperate with theme parks like Disney, Efteling and Europa-Park. And we also have partners in the field of culture (theatres, pop concert venues, museums), sports and e-sports (e-sport events, professional football clubs) and well-known leisure locations such as Ziggo Dome or Ahoy. In the industry, there are also many small and medium-sized companies or government bodies (e.g. municipal or provincial authorities), which we mustn’t overlook, because many of our students find jobs there.

How is the course material for next academic year being prepared?
The course material will stay the same, for physical as well as digital education. As a Leisure & Events manager you will have to acquire certain competencies and skills, which remain the same.

How do you see the way of teaching, should the corona situation remain the same next year?
In this troublesome corona situation, there is one major advantage: as an educational institution, we have gained a great deal of experience with digital teaching in a very short period of time. This means that if physical education is unexpectedly impossible even after the summer holidays, we will still be able to offer education digitally.

Lectures are already being taught digitally. And sometimes the subject matter of the lectures is subdivided to record shorter clips which students can watch.

As a student, digital education means that you are also in a ‘regular’ class, you work together digitally in small groups on assignments, and you have regular contact with the entire class group via a video connection. All you need, as a student, is a properly functioning laptop.

Are there any field trips being organised or expected next academic year?
We assume that in the next academic year we will be able to organise company field trips for our students. After all, this is important for students to familiarise themselves with the industry. Should this still be impossible, due to the corona situation, we will obviously look for alternatives. Just think of video clips of professionals working in the industry, digital presentations, and so on.