{"id":173684,"date":"2024-11-21T14:36:18","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T13:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=173684"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:36","slug":"shared-workspaces-for-scholars-penny-wise-pound-foolish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/11\/21\/shared-workspaces-for-scholars-penny-wise-pound-foolish\/","title":{"rendered":"Shared workspaces for scholars: penny wise, pound foolish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cutting back on the number of workspaces for scholars is counterproductive, argues Berend Wierenga, professor-emeritus of Marketing. The resulting minor saving will affect the budget immediately, while the negative effects will not become visible until later.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNoa Zonderland<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Erasmus University plans to move to a system of shared workspaces<\/a> for its academic staff: two workspaces for three scholars, a 33 per cent saving on accommodation costs. The saving will be immediately visible in EUR\u2019s financial statements. The number of publications per square metre of academic office space will rise dramatically. It\u2019s the stuff that makes accountants salivate!<\/p>\n

However, this saving is penny wise and pound foolish. No longer providing a fixed workspace for academic staff will result in a minor saving from a cost perspective, but entail lost revenue that will far exceed this saving.<\/p>\n

Irreverently put, scholars are the main \u2018means of production\u2019 of a university. Excellent scholars are scarce and expensive. Allowing such precious resources to operate in suboptimal conditions is short-sighted and demonstrably counterproductive. It\u2019s like a gardener who buys expensive vegetable seeds and then, to save costs, underwaters his plants.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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