Synergy when university and hospital are located in same place
Experiences from the Netherlands show great benefits, when a university and a hospital are sharing same address
Dear staff
In early October, the two managements from SDU and OUH were on a joint study trip to the Netherlands, where we visited two universities, both of which work closely with hospitals.
First stop was Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam and second stop was Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Both universities have been very successful in collaborating with hospitals, and this applies not least to the natural science departments, which play a major role in the development of clinical research.
At VU, we visited their Imaging centre, which consists of an independent new building where researchers and patients move together.
The patients were thus driven directly from the hospital to the scan in the center and do not feel a transition from hospital to university.
VU is betting heavily on imaging, as the visualization of "diseases" is expected to play a decisive role in the future, and they were now in the process of building another imaging centre.
At Erasmus University (EU) we visited the Center for Data Analysis, which was also housed in its own new building. The EU has invested a lot of funds in interdisciplinary projects in medical data analysis and they invite students, researchers and companies to do joint projects in the centre.
It was interesting to see the success of the collaboration with hospitals, and it was clearly an inspiration for both directorates, and experience was exchanged at management level regarding organization and other good advice.
It was also interesting to experience how we face some of the same challenges in both countries. VU has gone through a long process regarding the utilization of land, as they have limited opportunities to grow, while both universities are struggling to attract students to the health and natural science programmes.
In the Netherlands, there are no plans to reduce the number of students at the universities, but they are working to develop alternatives to the traditional educations - e.g. to ensure enough and relevant healthcare staff in the future.
Besides the fact that it was an educational trip, it was also great to get to know the management at OUH better. Everyone is looking forward to being co-located with the opportunities it brings. There are already many ideas for increased cooperation.
At the next joint board meeting between SDU and OUH, a decision must be made, among other things, on investment in two research centres, where the application round is expected at the beginning of 2023.