The AUAS is an institution for higher professional education. The programmes provide knowledge and skills that enable bachelor students to enter the labour market as starting professionals and to fulfil middle and senior management positions. Master's programmes are professional in nature and offer students in-depth knowledge and skills for their profession. Research is practice-oriented and as such focused on innovation of professional practice. Motivation, ambition and commitment are necessary conditions for studying and working at the AUAS.
Research
In a knowledge society, higher professional education is inextricably linked to research. Research is conducted at the HvA, in close collaboration with professional practice, with other knowledge institutions and with education. The aim of the research is to strengthen and innovate education and professional practice. The collaboration with the UvA, the VU and the Amsterdam companies and institutions offer good opportunities for this.
Amsterdam
The HvA is the University of Applied Sciences of Amsterdam, but emphatically also the University of Applied Sciences for Amsterdam. The university wants to make optimal use of the opportunities that Amsterdam offers. Amsterdam is an inviting learning and working environment for students and staff. The many leading companies and institutions offer the opportunity to learn a profession in this specific practical environment and to continuously improve and innovate education and the field of work with the help of research.
The HvA profiles itself as a typical metropolitan university of applied sciences, where learning, working and living in Amsterdam are naturally connected. The HvA is a broadly accessible university of applied sciences where students, lecturers and researchers from different perspectives and disciplines collaborate with each other and with companies, organisations and (knowledge) institutions.
Graduates of the HvA are equipped to work in a metropolitan, intercultural and innovative context. After their studies, students fulfil important functions in society and thus bear social responsibility. The HvA must prepare them for this responsibility during their studies. This takes place in a city with complex, persistent social problems. In Amsterdam, everyone is given the opportunity to develop, regardless of gender, religion, conviction, orientation and origin. But living together in this environment does not happen automatically. The HvA therefore chooses 'citizenship' as a connecting principle. Citizenship means that everyone takes responsibility for society. This requires a certain attitude and certain skills from the employees and students of the HvA: being able to deal with differences, not being afraid to ask questions, being curious about others. In addition, the HvA is a university of applied sciences that is accessible to everyone and that assumes the social values that exist and are developing in Dutch society.
Undisputed HBO level
Fulfilling the emancipatory function of the HvA goes hand in hand with an undisputed HBO level. Educational quality has the highest priority, with the full-time bachelor's degree programme as the central focus. The goal is not just a diploma, the goal is a diploma whose value may never be questioned.
Training offer
The HvA offers a differentiated range of programmes for a differentiated intake. The principle that quality is more important than quantity means that the HvA sets the limit to growth. Partly based on this consideration, a number of programmes have been terminated or transferred to other institutions in recent years. In the coming period, the university of applied sciences will also critically examine the number of programmes and graduation options that are offered. The HvA focuses primarily on bachelor's programmes and also offers the option of transferring to a master's programme. The HvA will only consider starting a follow-up programme itself if this fits in with its own strategy and the UvA or VU do not offer suitable options. The condition also applies that it fits in with the profile of the institution. The HvA wants to offer three-year training programmes for students with a pre-university education (VWO) on a selective basis. The HvA is cautious about Associate degree programmes. The HvA will only consider offering such two-year programmes if the professional field explicitly demands this and if there is a concrete demand for labour in the region.
Nederlands