Kristel Baele thanks Van der Meer Mohr in New Year’s speech

During the New Year’s reception, president of the board Kristel Baele thanked her predecessor Pauline van der Meer Mohr for her work. “This university owes a great deal to all her hard work”, said Baele in her New Year’s speech.

During the reception, Van der Meer Mohr was also presented with the Ad Fontes Penning. The Ad Fontes Penning is awarded to people who have made a valuable contribution to the university.

Besides expressing her thanks, Baele also took a look back at 2015 and ahead to 2016. “There are many things happening at the same time: internationalisation, a new campus, reorganisations, personnel needing to relocate, education reforms, cooperation with Rotterdam and much more. I understand that is not always easy to keep so many programmes and initiatives going in such turbulent times. Many people are working under increased pressure, partly as a result of the growing number of students and the educational changes.”

Extra investment in education

Baele recognised that it is not always easy to keep so many programmes and initiatives going in such turbulent times. For that reason, an extra 4 million per year will be made available for education, for tutors and educational support. “In other areas too, we will continue to innovate, invest and improve, steps which are essential to be able to meet the demands of the future.” She also announced that seven projects have been accepted in the Research Excellence Initiative. A total of 8.4 million euros will be invested in these projects.