Where different perspectives collide, learning emerges: that was the focus of the NewBee Fest at the national higher education day of Economics Education Week. As many as 180 teachers and researchers gathered at Avans University of Applied Sciences to explore the future of higher economic education. The new Manifesto for Future-Based Business and Economics Education. formed the common point of departure in this regard.

From manifesto to lecture hall

From plenary commencement to two rounds of workshops, the four pillars of the manifesto ran like a thread through the program. Below are the key insights for each pillar.

1. Broad insights from the discipline
   Teachers believe it is important that students learn not only about economic models, but also about social and environmental growth, ethics, forms of ownership and broad welfare. While this broad, transformative view is not yet the norm, it is seen as essential to helping students understand the complexities of the real world. Play, interaction and collaboration are widely cited as ways to embed these perspectives. The concept of entropy also recurs frequently: a metaphor for the inevitable decline of value and energy in economic processes, helping students better understand that growth is not costless.

2. Interdisciplinary connection
   Future-oriented economics education requires collaboration across borders. Teachers see the power of taking social issues as a starting point and approaching them not only economically, but also biologically, technically and socially. There are opportunities in cooperation between colleges and, in particular, between different levels of education.

3. Ethical and critical skills
   Developing critical and ethical skills happens primarily in dialogue: by experiencing dilemmas, examining perspectives and exploring personal motivations. Teachers must begin to discover (and be given space to do so) how work formats such as cases, conversations and game elements help students recognize moral questions and deepen their judgment.

4. Connection to practice and society
   The desire to strengthen the connection with practice and society is widely shared. Students learn most when they work on real situations from practice. Assignments, projects and collaborations with organizations create education that is both professionally focused and socially relevant. Students discover the impact of economic choices in their own environment and learn by doing, from field labs to business issues and neighborhood safaris.

Program & workshops

Arna Arnautovic and Karin Verschoor opened the day and emphasized that real acceleration in higher education is not only about education, but precisely about the close connection between education and research. Only through that connection can students actively learn to think and act in a rapidly changing economy.

In the subsequent panel discussion with Karin Verschoor, Magid el Massoudi and Remko van der Pluijm, it became clear that cooperation is not a choice, but a necessity. Like the universities of applied sciences, secondary schools and colleges are in the midst of new economic thinking, and soon students will be entering universities of applied sciences with new ideas. To be prepared for this, universities of applied sciences must join forces. Not only across educational levels (vo-mbo-hbo-wo), but also among themselves.

The changing role of the teacher also came up: no longer just transferring knowledge, but also guiding. This sometimes evokes resistance and emotions. The conclusion was clear: do not counter that resistance and emotions by coming up with hard counter arguments, but enter into the real conversation. Why do you think like that? Holding up the mirror is more effective than winning the discussion.

After the plenary session, participants were able to attend various workshops in 2 rounds. 

Round 1:

• True Pricing in Research & Education: Sjoukje Goldman (Hogeschool van Amsterdam) and Claire van den Broek (True Price) allowed participants to experience for themselves what True Pricing means and how the impact of products becomes visible in practice. View the presentation "
• Leverage interdisciplinary connection for current, organizeable and affordable part-time economics education: Bas Jansen (Saxion Part-time School) had participants jointly explore how part-time students from different programs can work together on professional products, making education current and future-proof. View the presentation "
• Dare to Think! - Transformative Ethics Education: Kim Meijer (HAN) guided participants in interactive conversations about ethics, reflecting on their own choices and responsibilities as professionals and citizens. 
• All-of-value proposition: Matthias Olthaar (NHL Stenden) had participants explore what value students and entrepreneurs create, for whom and how this contributes to a prosperous world. 
• Dealing with resistances to sustainability: Fred de Jong (HAN) worked with participants to recognize various resistances to sustainability and turn them into positive attitudes. View the presentation "
• Breaking education layers for a humane economy: Dianne de Fijter, Danielle Twardy and Menno Wierdsma (Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Firda) allowed participants to experience how students from mbo, hbo and wo work together on real circular issues, creating connection and understanding between education levels and the field. See the examples of Leadership for the Circular Transition and the Week of the Region. 
• What are we training our students to do? Merlijn Koch (Avans University of Applied Sciences) guided participants in short thought experiments and visualizations to explore how students can imagine and use images of the future to act differently now. 

Round 2: 

• Lessons from the mhbo management program: Karin Ruigrok (Windesheim) and Kirsten Slot-Lim (Deltion) engaged participants in a conversation about how MBO and HBO education can fit together seamlessly and what organizational and didactic choices will help. 
• Steward-Ownership: Future Companies: Marlon van den Boom-Burgerhof (Avans Hogeschool) and Manon van Bortel (Windesheim) and Esther Welles (WeAreStewards) allowed participants to discover how steward-ownership contributes to a sustainable and fair economy and how it can be applied in education. 
• De-growth as a business model: utopia or reality? Felix van Hoften (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences) and Jonneke de Koning (Avans University of Applied Sciences) explored with participants what degrowth/postgrowth means for businesses and how it can connect to innovative business models. 
• Applied broad welfare in economics education: Robin Philips (Hogeschool Leiden) had participants explore together how broad welfare can be integrated into economics education and how it can be applied interdisciplinarily. View the presentation "
• Ethics Workshop "The Lifetimer: Verena Schulze Greiving (Saxion University of Applied Sciences) let participants experience for themselves how technological innovation causes social dilemmas and how this can be used in education through an edu-LARP. 
• New lessons for a new economy: family businesses for broad prosperity: Erik Veldhuizen (Windesheim University of Applied Sciences) had participants discover together how family businesses contribute to broad prosperity and how this can be made visible in education. 

Check out the photos below for an atmosphere of the day: