13 October is undoubtedly a date that carries considerable weight for the faculty. As dean, how do you look back on this day last year?
Van der Meer: ‘To put it mildly, that entire week, and in fact the whole run-up to it, was not enjoyable. Reorganisations like this are extremely rare within our university. And however professionally we handled it, these are not things you ever want to do.’
What is the atmosphere like within the faculty now, one year later?
Timmerman: ‘The pain is still there for some people. That is only natural, because something like this has a major impact.’
Van der Meer: ‘We are not ignoring that reality. I still sense uncertainty in conversations around the faculty. We need to rebuild trust and a sense of future perspective. But that process is definitely under way. I see people looking ahead again, with greater optimism.’
Last year, you hoped to redeploy as many of the employees facing redundancy as possible. To what extent did that succeed?
Van der Meer: ‘I cannot comment on individual cases, but more than half of those affected have been redeployed. I am very grateful to colleagues across other faculties and service departments for that. Another group agreed to settlement arrangements. For a small number of people, the process is still ongoing.’
Part of the reorganisation involved a new departmental structure and a new support organisation. Is that now firmly in place?
Timmerman: ‘Let me put it this way: the house has been built, but we are still furnishing the interior. We now have four research departments and four support departments, compared with eighteen previously. From an organisational perspective, that makes things much more manageable. We can also see this physically in the building. Following last summer’s relocation, departments are now grouped together more effectively. Not every department is equally far along in the transition. Recently, we have worked hard on new structures for departments, meetings, and evaluations. Department heads have also been given much greater responsibility, and we are placing a stronger emphasis on collaboration.’
Van der Meer: ‘That sense of teamwork has particularly strengthened. We recently held a day with the faculty board and all department heads, and I noticed that this is genuinely becoming a team. That is important. We all need to think in terms of the faculty’s interests rather than the interests of our individual departments, because those can sometimes conflict.’
Recent management reports show the faculty back in the black. Has ITC regained its financial health relatively quickly?
Timmerman: ‘We do indeed expect a small surplus this year, but that is due to one-off results. Our objective remains the same: to achieve a modest positive result from 2029 onwards, regardless of any incidental windfalls. You cannot allow yourself to focus too heavily on those, and you certainly cannot build policy around them. At present, we remain on track for a modest positive result in 2029.’
We have also heard concerns from early-career researchers on temporary contracts, particularly postdocs, who felt their already vulnerable position became even more precarious because of the budget cuts and reorganisation. Is there now more perspective for them?
Van der Meer: ‘The pressure of the reorganisation forced us to be clearer about expectations and to communicate openly about what people could and could not expect from this faculty. When redundancies are taking place, there is simply very little room for progression from temporary positions. We have to be realistic about that. Going forward, these researchers have the advantage of already being known within the organisation. Hopefully, that will improve their chances when new vacancies arise. The situation was different for PhD candidates. Around ten per cent experienced direct consequences from the reorganisation. In their case, supervision arrangements changed, but they were able to continue working on their own research topics.’
What are the main lessons learned over the past year?
Van der Meer: ‘Learned may be too strong a word, but communication is the most important factor. You need to be consistent, transparent, and open, especially in an uncertain and difficult situation. Another challenge was the decision-making process. In a trajectory like this, you have to strike a balance between taking time to build support and moving quickly enough to act decisively. Roughly six months passed between announcing the reorganisation and implementing it. That was a highly frustrating period, a kind of limbo in which we sometimes wanted to share more information but were unable to do so. There will also be an official evaluation.’
Is the faculty now better equipped to deal with political decisions? After all, they were ultimately what triggered the reorganisation.
Van der Meer: ‘We were dealing with an extremely radical government. But we always have to work with the minister we are given. Even if you disagree with a minister’s policies, you still have to remain in dialogue. During the reorganisation, some people criticised me for wanting to keep those conversations going. We still need to stay alert under a minority government, because every budget item requires negotiation. At least there is currently no discussion about our core funding. And as for the grants and short courses we were forced to discontinue, the outlook on that front is also beginning to improve.’
What will be most important for the faculty in the years ahead?
Van der Meer: ‘We want to play a larger role in major programmes based on the Dutch Diamond principle: large-scale collaborations between knowledge institutions, government, industry, and society. Not individual projects, but broad programmes involving multiple UT departments. ITC is now well positioned for that. Beyond that, our focus will remain on lifelong learning.’
Timmerman: ‘Our Geoversity platform now attracts 25,000 participants each month. Twelve per cent of newly enrolled students had previously taken a course through the platform. Those are encouraging figures, and we will continue to develop Geoversity further.’
Van der Meer: ‘The world is constantly changing, so in that sense it is business as usual. What matters is that our faculty culture evolves from being a family with a business mindset into a business with a family mindset: ensuring the organisation is run professionally while continuing to look out for one another.’
