There has been a student assessor every year since 2015. The student assessor attends Executive Board meetings, advises the Executive Board and puts student-related topics on the agenda. In addition, the student assessor stays in close contact with the Central Student Council (CSR), the students and the student associations. Van Beek will become the UvA's fifth student assessor, following in the footsteps of Iris Kingma, who held the position until January 2020.

The Appointments Committee is enthusiastic about Van Beek: ‘We were very pleased to have so many good candidates for the position of student assessor during this round. In the end, we chose Rijk, who impressed us during our discussions with his analytical skills and the way in which he conveys his thoughts. As well as showing enthusiasm and a high level of commitment, he has gained a great deal of experience in the Faculty Student Council. We look forward to working with him’, said Karen Maex, Rector Magnificus and Chairperson of the Appointments Committee.

Van Beek consider it his role as the student assessor to relay concerns from the student community and to serve as a source of advice for the Executive Board: ‘I think that I can help the Executive Board to facilitate good education for all groups of students by actively highlighting groups that are perhaps being overlooked, for example. Moreover, I would like to strengthen the position of representative advisory bodies in these strange times.’ During the new academic year, he will first work on developing coronavirus measures: ‘What does the 1.5-metre university look like and how can we shape digital education properly?’

About Rijk van Beek

Rijk van Beek is a second-year Bachelor's student of History at the UvA who has a special interest in colonial and post-colonial history. Van Beek has been a member of the Programme Committee since 2018. From this academic year, he has been Vice-Chairperson of the Student Council at the Faculty of Humanities, while he also serves as a committee member of the Kleio study association (History). Outside the university, he worked in local politics.