The Quest Board 2015-2016 consisted of Irene de Vries, Solveiga Sama and Joanneke Meijer.

Irene de Vries

First of all, many thanks for taking a look at this website! I truly hope that your visit represents an interest in Quest as a foundation and that, by sharing my experiences as a former board member, I could contribute to this interest. With this text, I hope to convey the satisfaction that comes along with an active membership, but even more the relevance of this membership for the Faculty as a whole.

During my board year, I had the pleasure to work with two fellow members who were just as ambitious. I believe that with our dedication, perseverance, close collaboration and our true sense of importance regarding all our matters, we significantly contributed to the educational quality at our Faculty. Just to name a few examples: we did set up a Pilot for Mid-term evaluations, a Year Representation for Pre-master students, where we also developed Certificates for the Year Representatives.

Firstly, by setting up the Mid-term evaluation Pilot, students were able to evaluate courses via an online platform (i.e. by using their telephone / tablet / laptop) in a timely fashion (i.e. in the second or third week of the course), thereby pointing out improvement points that could be changed overnight.  Secondly, the Year Representation for the Pre-master students brought valuable insights in the deficiencies as well as the redundancies in the learning material experienced by the students coming from the University of applied sciences. Lastly, by developing Certificates for Year Representatives, the board hoped to contribute to the success of their careers by providing them an original document for their extra-curricular activities.

The former achievements notwithstanding, I also believe that the position of board member enriched me as a person. The consultation with many stakeholders at all levels in the Faculty, the realization of new ideas, chairing many meetings with academic staff as well as speaking in front of large groups; I would recommend it to all of you!

Solveiga Sama

Hey everyone, I am Solveiga, and I was a Quest Marketing and Finance Officer in year 2015-2016. I believe that the biggest achievement what we have achieved was the visibility of the Quest and building the trust with various stakeholders. Regarding the promotion, we used an extensive line of distribution channels, such as banners, lecture talks, posters, digital screens and many others. In such a way the recruitment of Year Representatives and Program Committee members was quite easy. Second, to build trust with professors we met with them at the start of the year. We met with the Vice-Dean of the faculty several times a year to discuss the most important issues of the faculty we encountered while doing YR meetings. Moreover, we had an extensive communication with Yrs and secretaries in order to make a transparent and smooth. In general, I loved my board year; I significantly improved my social and communication skills while communicating with various stakeholders of Quest.  Education can be only improved when talking about it!

Joanneke Meijer

When I look back at our year on the board, I am happy that I have had this opportunity. I am proud of how we have worked as a team, not only as the Quest board, but together with the year representatives, the program directors and the faculty board. Next to the most important part, improving the quality of the education of our faculty, I am thankful that I have grown as a person. You will not just learn how to preside a meeting, you will have to select the program committee members, discuss difficult issues with the faculty board and take care of the continuity of Quest. Moreover, you really have the power to change. In our year we suggested several improvements which my fellow board members also describe. For me the most outstanding change we have made, is starting the midterm evaluations. These evaluations make it possible that teachers can adjust their lectures during the block based on the feedback of the current students. If you have an idea to improve the education within our faculty, I would like to invite you to apply for a position at Quest!

From left to right: Solveiga Sama, Joanneke Meijer and Irene de Vries