TU/e and Summa to share building

The TU/e ​​campus is increasingly becoming a place where various forms of technical education coexist and interact with each other. The next step in this direction is the renovation of building S3, which will be shared by TU/e ​​and Summa starting in 2027. TU/e ​​Vice President Patrick Groothuis and Summa Executive Chair Annemarie Moons signed the agreement for the renovation during Challenge Week 040. The signing demonstrates how different levels of education are increasingly finding common ground.

The building on De Lismortel is being modernized and technically renewed, with a focus on sustainability and reducing energy consumption. The layout will remain largely unchanged. The facade will also be cleaned. The renovation will start in December 2026 and is expected to be completed in mid-2027. Summa will use the ground floor, the first floor, and half of the second floor for, among other things, the Engineering program. A canteen and a workshop will also be located on the ground floor.

TU/e uses the third floor and the other half of the second floor. Various teaching spaces will be located there, including a lecture hall and an examination room that can be used university-wide. The presence of Summa students on the TU/e ​​campus offers opportunities for more interaction and exchange between MBO and WO students.

It is no coincidence that the signing is taking place during Challenge Week 040. During this week, students from Summa, Fontys, TU/e, and others join forces in mixed teams to work on practice-oriented and current challenges.

The week demonstrates what increasingly characterizes the TU/e ​​campus: a place where students from various educational institutions meet, attend classes, and contribute to solutions for the future from their own backgrounds.

TU/e Vice-President Patrick Groothuis: “Secondary vocational education, higher professional education, and university education need each other to tackle the societal and economic challenges of the future. This realization is increasingly taking shape in concrete initiatives. The demand for well-trained technical talent is growing and requires people with diverse knowledge and skills. By having students collaborate with each other during their studies, we better prepare them for professional practice. Especially in Brainport, where the need for technical talent is high. On our campus, we bring students and staff from various educational institutions closer together, driven by one shared ambition: to give technical talent the space to develop to their full potential.”

Summa Executive Board Chair Annemarie Moons: “Our students bring technical craftsmanship and practical skills. They know how to make a technical concept tangible. That is a valuable addition to the scientific knowledge of the TU/e. In the business world, students from the TU/e ​​and Summa often work closely together. It is therefore great that they already meet during their studies and become acquainted with each other's knowledge and skills. By sharing a building in the future, that will become much more natural.”

The renovation of S3 and Challenge Week 040 are visible steps, but the connection between the various educational institutions is meanwhile taking shape in increasingly diverse ways. Through the Wisselstroom project, the flow and collaboration between Fontys and TU/e ​​are improving, ensuring students end up in the right place more quickly. Both the Fontys Technology institute and the Summa Laboratorium program are located in the Nexus building on the TU/e ​​campus. Students from both programs share the laboratory facilities.

In addition, 370 first-year Electrical Engineering students from TU/e ​​and Electrical Engineering students from Fontys are taking the same course together in the first semester, a first in the Netherlands. Furthermore, more than fifty Fontys students are now active in TU/e ​​student teams.

The collaboration also extends to facilities on campus and in the city. For instance, TU/e, Fontys, and Summa collaborate in the Student Housing Covenant to realize more student housing for students from the various institutions. The joint introductory party and the shared use of the sports center also bring students from the institutions into contact with one another.

Joep Houterman, Chairman of the Executive Board of Fontys, will be present on campus during Challenge Week 040 to address the students. Houterman: “The great added value of Challenge Week 040 is that students with diverse backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences work together on a problem. Precisely because they view a challenge from the perspective of different study programs and disciplines, new insights and surprising solutions emerge. Challenge Week 040 demonstrates how collaboration across discipline boundaries helps students approach issues from multiple perspectives and achieve stronger results.”