The ceremony held on 15 December 2009 to formalise the creation of the graduate association of ITC was attended by the rector of ITC, and PhD students and their elected representatives. The functions of this association, which bears the official name Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC Faculty) of University of Twente PhD Committee (abbreviated to IPC), include the following:
- To act as the representative of the PhD students in all ITC-oriented matters and publicly advance the interests of ITC PhD students within the universities in the Netherlands, whether independently or in association with organisations with similar views, while remaining politically non-aligned
- To promote communication and cooperation between the ITC administration, postgraduate student associations and societies
- To promote the general welfare of ITC PhD students at institutions of higher education in the Netherlands
- To conduct scientific and social activities for ITC PhD students
- To foster and extend mutual scientific and academic support between ITC PhD students
- To protect and defend ITC PhD students from all sorts of harassment in the workplace.
The ceremony also served to launch the IPC web pages, which can be found on the Research page of the ITC website (www.itc.nl/phd-activities). These pages contain relevant information for the PhD community and provide a forum where ITC PhD students can communicate, exchange ideas, and ask questions regarding PhD life at ITC in general. The rector opened the forum by saluting the progress of the PhD students as a community at ITC.
