[Senior-staff-physics-and-astronomy] MSc. Physics and Astronomy program

[Versolato, O.O. (Oscar)]

Dear colleague,

** TL;DR: we invite you to actively contribute to designing an update of the MSc. Ph&A study programme. We hope to collect a substantial pool of names, which we can call on to join a committee or support their work. Please contact us!<mailto:mscphanda at list.uva.nl>**

Physics & Astronomy in Amsterdam has undergone tremendous changes in the past decade. Entire new institutes emerged, we digitized large parts of our teaching (nudged by the need to deal with Covid), and we expanded our reach in terms of topics and staff members. In addition, the world around us is rapidly changing, and this places new demands on us, both as scientists and teachers.

The impact of this on our teaching and on the joint degree MSc program Physics & Astronomy has become a recurring discussion topic in various corners of Amsterdam Physics.

After our newsletter in June 2021 we had several meetings with a small study group, and after further discussions between the track coordinators and the program director we would like to follow up on this. Before the summer, the management teams of VU Physics & Astronomy, IoP and API expressed their wish to start a process of careful reflection on the state of the joint degree MSc program, leading to suggestions for change where necessary, to bring the program in better alignment with the expectations, interests and wishes of both our staff and our students. Similar efforts have already been started during recent years for individual tracks, and the experience obtained from these will be used as blueprint for the current review of the MSc program.

In consultation with the program director, Ivo van Stokkum, a core team has been appointed to steer this process. The initial focus will be on the largest scale: a review of the (educational) vision, the exit qualifications, and the examination strategy of the MSc program. Building on those, we will then gradually shift focus to the organisation of tracks and curricula.

We aim to gather and include input from all corners of Amsterdam Physics & Astronomy (staff and students) and therefore hope that you will attend brainstorm, information, and feedback sessions which we will be organising throughout the coming year. In addition, we are looking for interested lecturers willing to take part in small committees that will focus on targeted aspects within the review and help to deliver concrete proposals. With these efforts, we hope to further improve our successful program.

If you are willing to contribute to this effort, please reach out to us at this email address: mscphanda at list.uva.nl<mailto:mscphanda at list.uva.nl>


Best regards,


Erik van Heumen, Oscar Versolato, and Jasper van Wezel.


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