Primary school students in Utrecht will be taught by professors this week during a professor meeting

Utrecht elementary school students in grades seven and eight will make video calls with 115 professors from Utrecht University (UU) on Wednesday. Academics say during Meet the professor About science and research, children can ask all kinds of questions at the same time.

In this way, UU introduces students to the academic world in order to reduce the distance between the university and the community. For example, professors talk about their own research, science as such and the university.

This year is the fifth edition of Meet the Professor. During all previous courses, professors would still visit elementary schools with their gowns. Last year, the event was canceled due to the pandemic. So it has now been decided that the professors and students will make video calls to each other.

Nosy

“It’s great that a teacher can still attend our class this year, even if it’s online. We are very curious, the students are really busy asking questions,” says an elementary school teacher.

In the lead up to the professor meeting, participating classes receive a gold envelope each month containing lesson activities and a hint about their professor. In this way the class learned more and more about professor identity and research.

birthday

Utrecht University this week celebrates its 385th anniversary. The Dies Natalis – the term for universities’ anniversaries, among other things – will be held entirely online on Friday, March 26th. This year, Dies Natalis is dedicated to launching the 77th course of the joint lustrum with the University Medical Center in Utrecht, under the title: Making Tomorrow Together.