Frits Claassen has been elected Teacher of the Year 2012. He received the award on January 17 during the New Year's reception of the Student Council. The election of the Teacher of the Year is organised annually by the Wageningen University Fund in order to publicly honour excellent lecturers and focus attention on the importance of good education at the university.
In November students (second year and older) could vote for their favourite lecturer. After the elections a student jury composed a top-5, based on the votes as well as on information they gathered from other teachers and students. The top-5 teachers will all receive an education bonus of 2,500 euros and a certificate. The Teacher of the Year, this year Frits Claassen, is the only one to also receive a statue: a replica of the art piece 'The Teacher' by Jan Praet.

For a successful transition to a Biobased Economy (less dependent on fossil fuels) The Netherlands require thousands of 'green' specialists. Wageningen University and Van Hall Larenstein Leeuwarden (both part of Wageningen UR) have established a Centre for Biobased Economy in collaboration with HAS Den Bosch, CAH Dronten and InHolland Delft to provide the necessary training. The centre, which was officially launched on January 1, focuses primarily on knowledge development within the 'green' higher education institutions, and aims to thereafter transfer that knowledge to industry and other educational institutions.

The Dutch study guide Keuzegids has - again - concluded that Wageningen University, part of Wageningen UR, is the best university in the Netherlands. It's the seventh consecutive year that Wageningen University tops the list. 'Wageningen leaves its competitors even further behind than in previous years', writes the Information Centre for Higher Education (CHOI), publisher of the 'Keuzegids Universiteiten 2012'.
Bachelor studies of all universities in the Netherlands were compared. In almost all categories the bachelor programmes of Wageningen University are on top of the list.