10-11-2026 –, Tango 2
For universities and universities of applied sciences, Lifelong Learning will become an increasingly important part of the educational offering in the coming years. Anyone who wants to take this seriously quickly runs into a structural problem: at most institutions, the relationship with the learner is not set up for a continuous journey. Contact with a secondary school pupil, a student, an alumnus and a Lifelong Learner runs through separate systems, separate teams and separate assumptions about who the learner is. An alumnus who signs up for an LLL course five years after graduating often comes in as a complete stranger, even though the institution has been in contact with this person for years.
TU Delft has decided to organise this differently. The university is building a digital foundation that makes the complete journey of a learner visible: from the secondary school pupil attending an open day for the first time, through student and graduate, to the Lifelong Learner who returns for a new step in his or her professional development. In the programme that started in 2026, the university is bringing the Communication department and the TU Delft Learning for Life Centre together on a single platform. This platform is designed to support other parts of the organisation and its diverse range of processes in the years that follow.
Willem van Valkenburg (TU Delft Learning for Life Centre) and Joost Bentvelsen (2at) share the strategic and organisational choices from the first phase. What they have to say applies to any institution facing the same challenge, regardless of the platform you choose.
Topics include:
- Why the relationship with a learner ends prematurely at most institutions, and what that costs your LLL ambitions in practice
- What it takes to establish LLL as an equal phase in the learner's life course
- Which organisational obstacles you encounter when marketing, alumni relations and LLL want to share a single customer view
- How to lay a digital foundation that can also serve the departments that are currently still out of scope
The session is intended for executives, policy officers, LLL coordinators, information managers and communication professionals at universities, universities of applied sciences and vocational education institutions facing a similar challenge. Afterwards, you will have a sharper picture of what it really takes to organise the relationship with your learners across their entire lives, and what first steps are needed to get there.
The relationship with the learner is often not yet structured around a continuous journey. Maintaining contact with pupils, students, alumni and lifelong learners is becoming increasingly important.
Willem van Valkenburg is de directeur van TU Delft Learning for Life Centre. De Learning for Life Centre is verantwoordelijk voor het LLO aanbod van de universiteit. Willem werkt al meer dan 20 jaar op het snijvlak van ICT en onderwijs. In 2020 heeft Willem de SURF onderwijsaward gekregen.
Joost Bentvelsen werkt vanuit 2at samen met diverse instellingen in het mbo, hbo en wo. Hij helpt ze bij de momenten waarop de techniek de mensen voor de voeten loopt, of andersom. Zijn werk bestaat voor een groot deel uit het tolken tussen werelden die elkaar slecht verstaan: bestuur en IT, marketing en studentadministratie, communicatie en LLO. Hij ziet bij veel instellingen hetzelfde patroon terugkomen, namelijk dat de relatie met de lerende verbrokkeld raakt zodra die over de grens van een team, afdeling, opleiding of cluster beweegt. In het TU Delft-traject zit hij dicht op de organisatorische en strategische keuzes die nodig zijn om dat patroon te doorbreken. Tijdens de sessie laat hij zien welke keuzes, onder andere op gebied van technologie, in de eerste fase het meeste verschil hebben gemaakt.