{"id":93122,"date":"2018-12-14T13:43:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T12:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=93122"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:10","slug":"are-there-any-scientists-left-who-wish-to-join-the-university-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/12\/14\/are-there-any-scientists-left-who-wish-to-join-the-university-council\/","title":{"rendered":"Are there any scientists left who wish to join the University Council?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Academics are barely represented on the University Council these days. The University\u2019s highest-ranking advisory board represents students, academic staff and support staff. However, in the present incarnation of the Council, only two of the 24 seats are occupied by researchers.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jiska Engelbert, Tim de Mey, Natalija Gersak and Jacqueline Schenk (not pictured) left the Council early.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Immediately after the 2017 elections, five seats were occupied by researchers. This year, the academics Tim de Mey (ESPhil), Jacqueline Schenk (ESSB) and Jiska Engelbert (ESHCC) all left the Council, leaving Vladimir Karamychev and Emese von Bon\u00e9 (ESL) the only researchers on the Council. Councillor Ben Bode has a PhD, too, but does not actually hold a research position at RSM. RSM\u2019s Natalija Gersak also left the Council. She is not an academic herself, but in her capacity as Director of Research Development & Support, she does often collaborate with researchers.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\u2018At present, the Council only voices criticism in exceptional cases\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJiska Engelbert\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Why is having only two scientists on the Council a bad thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aleid Barmentlo, who chairs the University Council and is a Philosophy student, says a certain perspective is missing from the Council without academics. \u201cWhat we want from our council is a good debate. We need the most diverse group possible for that.\u201d Like Barmentlo, Jiska Engelbert believes that academics can speak more freely than support staff, because the latter group\u2019s job description basically consists of implementing the policies decided on by the Executive Board. \u201cOf course, this doesn\u2019t always hold true, but when there are scientists on the Council, you can count on there being a critical mass. At present, the Council only voices criticism in exceptional cases.\u201d Engelbert has noticed that support staff members are more likely to ask \u2018how\u2019 than \u2018why\u2019. \u201cWe are not just another company. We are a university. It is our academic duty and obligation always to ask questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gersak feels the Council has overemphasised teaching lately. \u201cStudents are well represented on the Council. They always attend meetings, and generally have a little more time on their hands than researchers. As a result, we have entered a downward spiral. There aren\u2019t enough researchers on the Council to ensure that research is high on the agenda, so they get frustrated and end up leaving the Council. As a result, there are now even fewer researchers on the Council, meaning the discussions are even less research-oriented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim de Mey, too, feels that it is bad that important decisions are made on teaching, research and commercial knowledge transfer without much input from scientists. \u201cThe support staff on the Council are very useful, but they do often come with a highly specific expertise of one particular faculty or one particular aspect of the university, meaning the Council is a random collection of people who are experts on one particular thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is it that there are so few academics on the Council?<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Gersak, many academics feel that the university\u2019s centralised organisation (including the University Council) does not concern them. \u201cTo them, their own faculty is much more important. And in many cases, they don\u2019t know the extent of the power the Council wields in the university.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t