Dear colleagues,
This morning (Friday) I walked onto an empty campus: the boulevard was empty apart from one of the builders working on the Foyer, no students, no bikes to avoid, no smokers (😊). There was no wind and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, the Torentje van Drienerlo was beautifully reflected in the water. So I took a moment to sit down by the water and reflect on the past two weeks.
To begin with, I had a very good time in Italy! Lovely weather, beautiful landscape, amazing food, fabulous ice cream, and some ancient and medieval culture, who could ask for more?! I am glad that I was well rested when we entered this new round of cutbacks and financial challenges, and I am also very glad that I was here when this was all announced. I have been able to speak to many of you in the past week and while I don’t have many answers yet, it is good that you share your concerns and worries.
The meeting with Vinod Subramaniam this last Tuesday had been planned months ago already, but the timing was near perfect. I was hugely impressed (as was Vinod) that so many of you showed up, I think there were close to 130 colleagues (close to 75%) present! From many of you, I have heard that Vinod’s open and honest explanation was much appreciated, and that it helped to understand that the UT is not the only university with these problems. I was very impressed by how the questions were asked: critical but respectful, which helped a lot in getting the dialogue going. Thank you Kim and the Service Council for your preparations, this certainly helped to ensure that the event achieved its goal. Vinod has already agreed to come back in the Fall; as soon as we have a date we will let you know.
What actually pleases me most, is that I sense a new energy: we can do this, we zetten onze schouders eronder, we will do this together. That makes me happy, and we will do our very best to keep that energy flowing, even if it gets more difficult. This also means that I wholeheartedly invite and encourage you to come forward with your suggestions on changes: are there actions you think we don’t need to do anymore? Or steps in procedures that are perhaps superfluous? Let us know, even if it saves three minutes in a process, if that step happens hundreds of times, it will help! Ideas on better alignment or cooperation with the faculties are also welcome. Feel free to talk to your supervisor or make an appointment with me; we are happy to listen!
And then of course there was the fantastic news that the UT has been awarded a 2 million euro grant from the Leven Lang Ontwikkelen Katalysator to help us build the systems and processes to support the Life Long Learning Initiatives. A huge compliment to the whole writing team who wrote an excellent proposal, and especially to Renate van Luijk who played a key role in this process. In the next weeks, we will develop the proposal further so that we can get started as soon as possible.
The MT will use the summer to work on the annual plan and the budget for 2025; this time not starting from the budget we are assigned, but from what we need to carry out the tasks that we are responsible for. I am actually looking forward to being able to dig into this, without having to attend all the meetings I usually have.
With this new energy, I walked into the Vrijhof and switched on my computer. The campus is empty, but CES is still buzzing, getting ready for the new academic year. We have the ‘quiet’ summer weeks ahead of us. For those of you who are going on vacation: have a great time! For those who are preparing the UT for the new academic year: keep your head cool and good luck!
Lieke
