Wageningen UR had a long-standing plan to sell off the Dreijen in its entirety. The notion of clustering all Wageningen’s research and teaching on one campus involved losing this collection of teaching and research buildings situated close to Wageningen’s city centre. With the present decision, however, Wageningen UR will continue to have several locations in the coming years.
If we have more than 10,000 students, we won’t have enough space to educate them on campus
Eise Ebbelink
By keeping the Dreijen open, it is hoped that the university’s tumultuous growth can be accommodated. ‘If we have more than 10,000 students, we won’t have enough space to educate them on campus,’ says Eise Ebbelink, head of Real Estate Policy for the university’s facilities company. ‘Our current prognoses suggest we’ll easily exceed that number.’ Ebbelink suspects that the Dreijen will be needed for education for at least another ten years.
After some ‘revitalization’ work, the university expects to get the buildings quickly back into service. Some overdue maintenance must be carried out and some rooms are not suitable for the latest teaching methods.