Annual Report

HAN provides bachelor, master and associate degree programs, in full-time, part-time and work-study formats to around 35,000 students from 110 countries. We also offer consultancy, professional training, post-graduate programs, and courses and training programs for professionals from companies, institutions and organizations. 

We provide education that is connected to research and professional practice. Together with our partners in the field, our 50 research centers and 7 centers of expertise work on practice-based research, innovation and knowledge valorization.

Below are various key figures for 2023.

Students
Number of enrolled students on 1 October 2023	34,930
Number of bachelor students	31,933
Number of associate degree students	1,431
Number of master students	1,566
Degree programs
Number of bachelor programs	55
Number of master programs	19
Number of associate degree programs	19
Research
Number of research centers	50
Number of Centers of Expertise	7

Through engaging and flexible university of applied sciences education and practice-based innovative research, HAN educates students who will contribute to smart, clean and social solutions to societal challenges. We achieve this through close cooperation with the professional field at regional, national and international levels.

Major events from around the world continued to raise new questions for HAN in 2023. Like how best to approach the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing struggle. And closer to home, the uncertain political situation following the results of the Lower House elections affects HAN as a diverse community of students and staff. We want all students and staff to feel at home at HAN. We believe diversity enriches our education, research and organization. And dialogue that allows for different opinions is an important part of that. If we want our students to evolve into reflective and socially engaged global citizens, which is one of the strategic goals from our 2022-2028 strategic plan "Charting our Course", then we need to act accordingly: we need to practice what we preach.

The developments taking place around us also impact the well-being of students and staff. This requires us to remain alert and, where necessary, adjust the services and efforts of study coaches, management and others who provide support, such as student psychologists and human resources staff. Without entering into the domain of regular care and welfare services.

And now more than ever the big ambitions from our strategic plan require focus and choices, and an approach based on clear frameworks and objectives. This is also an important theme in our management philosophy and also requires adjustments in the way we work and in the culture of HAN.

Naturally, the quality of our education and research was high on the agenda in 2023. We were therefore very pleased with the positive results of the 2023 education and research inspections. In 2023, further steps were taken to achieve the 6 strategic goals from the 2022-2028 strategic plan. We are pleased with the progress we have made toward these ambitious goals. In 2023, a program was launched to support the implementation of our strategic plan, with staff from the 14 schools, services and policy departments all working to create the conditions necessary to support the actual implementation of the strategic plan goals in education, research and the organization, such as frameworks, models, and guidelines.  This resulted in a wide range of products, such as the HAN Global Citizenship Framework, including translations into indicators for education, a student profile for digital and data literacy, a HAN framework for educational flexibility, a growth model for flexible education, guidelines for lifelong learning, and guidelines for alumni. Within the schools, each at its own pace and according to its own development and programs, the first substantive steps were taken to achieving our strategic goals. This included creating space for global citizenship and digital and data literacy in the curricula, and taking steps towards flexibilization and development of the lifelong learning portfolio. 

The 2023 HAN Agenda, based on our strategic plan, elaborates on the Smart, Green and Social themes. Here we describe the knowledge, innovation and human capital issues that are of particular importance to us.

Over the past year, we have continued to build a robust and powerful research organization to increase HAN's impact. We focused on further strengthening our research portfolio and aligning it more closely with the established HAN agenda. We also established the principles for a powerful research organization that will enable us to reach a new level of maturity for practice-based research at HAN.

In addition to the developments in 2023 outlined above, we are also pleased with the steps taken in various projects to further strengthen our foundation, such as improving student support and wellbeing, further developing the landscape of information provision, and steps taken in the area of portfolio management.

HAN's financial position is healthy, both in relation to its own financial frameworks and in relation to the identification limits used by the Education Inspectorate.

However, after years of growth in student numbers, the long overdue decline has begun. In 2024, this will mean the end of the spending of the additional funds received by the education sector, including HAN, as a result of the Corona pandemic (the so-called NPO funds).

The trend in student numbers and the elimination of the additional funds from the National Program Education will have an impact on our finances, making the long-term forecast a significant challenge. We are therefore forced to take timely measures to anticipate the future. HAN's healthy financial position gives us room to maneuver.

HAN will close the year 2023 with a deficit of €2.8 million. For several years, HAN has followed a policy of building up reserves through a controlled loss-making operating budget for the benefit of education, research and strengthening the organization. In 2024, this financial policy will be continued and will again rely on the deliberate use of reserves accumulated in the past. The financial policy and finances are discussed in more detail in chapter 7.

In our present administrative report, we show how we achieved our goals in 2023 and report in accordance with industry agreements. For further insight into the many examples where education, research and the professional world come together, we would also like to refer you to the Annual Review and Annual Report, which can be found on our website (in Dutch).

30 May 2024

Rob Verhofstad, Yvonne de Haan and Bridget Kievits

HAN Executive Board