Budgetrequest Accessibility Cobbenhagen for advice CFI
The Executive Board has made a budget request for the adaptation of the entrance of the Cobbenhagen building to increase the accessibility of the building. A few solutions are proposed, such as the partial modification of the glass corridor between the Koopmans and Cobbenhagen buildings and the opening of the Royal Entrance. To make the Royal Entrance more visible and to increase its use, the EB proposes to create 80 extra parking spaces for bicycles and approximately 30 extra outdoor workplaces in the inner garden. The total costs of these investments are estimated at €250,000, all parties have advised positively. Front has indicated to be happy with the extra workstations that are generated outside and has thanked the Executive Board for this.
3e NAVW for advice CFI
The third letter of amendment is part of the financial planning and control cycle for 2018 and covers the technical closure of the financial year 2018. It includes the budget adjustments following changes in government funding and budget allocations to the different schools and divisions. Government funding has increased by €199,000 with respect to the budgeted amount. None of the parties commented on this document and a unanimous positive opinion was given.
Budget request renewal rent of Intermezzo for advice DB
The Executive Board has submitted a request to extend the rent of the Intermezzo building. The EB indicates the importance of renting Intermezzo again regarding the growth of the university. In addition to the first and second floors that are already rented, the EB also proposes to rent floors 6, 7 and 8 so that extra space will be available over the next five years. The total cost of renting the Intermezzo building is €395,000 per year. In the document it is stated that these floors may cope with vacancy, but there is a chance that these floors would otherwise already have been rented out if the university wants to make use of them. During the meeting of the Committee Finance and Infrastructure, Front expressed its understanding for the renting of these three additional floors, but that vacancy should not be an option. That is why Front proposed to generate extra workplaces for students when these three floors remain vacant, Front is even prepared to gauge the interests of students when it comes to kind of these workplaces, think of quiet workplaces or workplaces for group assignments. The Executive Board has responded positively to this and all four parties have advised positively.
Response to three initiative proposals in the field of sustainability for discussion DB
In the weeks before christmas, the party Independents and Front submitted one and two initiatives respectively regarding sustainability. The Independents has submitted a request to reduce the ecological footprint of Tilburg University and came up with a number of solutions to reduce this footprint. The party also asked the university to draw up a mobility plan. In its first initiative Front asked to look at the implementation of paid parking at the university to reduce the use of cars, in the initiative Front proposed to use the revenues to start sustainable projects on campus. In the second initiative, Front asks for the establishment of a ‘sustainability fund’ that divisions and associations can claim if they want to make sustainable.
The Executive Board has indicated that it is very pleased with the initiatives that have been submitted and the attention that the parties have paid to sustainability. However, the request from the parties is so large that it is not possible to respond within three months. A working group has been set up that focuses on reducing the ecological footprint and will seek cooperation with the parties. The parking policy will also be part of the study of the working group. Finally, the Executive Board stated that they find the sustainability fund a sympathetic idea. The Executive Board will ask the Program Manager Sustainability for advice on the goals, size, sources and procedures of this fund.
Response Initiative prop SAM Formative Testing and Feedback for discussion OOI
Party SAM has submitted an initiative to apply formative testing at Tilburg University. SAM wants assessments of the learning process of students to be spread more over the semester. It is acknowledged that this can lead to a higher workload for lecturers and they will therefore have to be supervised by Tilburg University. The cycle of formative testing is as follows: teacher and student focus together on a learning goal, work on a challenging task, evaluate the student’s current performance against the learning goal, use the evaluation to improve performance to achieve the goal and keep repeating this process until the learning goal has been achieved with associated requirements. (Peer) Feedback and other tools such as quizzes and online assessment tools also belong to formative assessment.
The Executive Board is pleased with the initiative of the SAM group and has indicated to look into the possibility of including formative testing in the drafting of the new assessment policy of Tilburg University.
Process Monitoring Action plan 2018-2021 for discussion
In 2018 the University Council consented to the Action Plan 2018-2021 where 17 action lines were formulated to carry out the universities strategy for the years 2018-2021. In the same document 17 objectives are described, accompanied by action lines to realize the objectives. As agreed, the implementation of Tilburg University’s strategy 2018-2021 will be regularly monitored by reporting sessions and e.g. by means of a Strategic Dashboard. During this University Council the council was presented with an update on the several action lines and most action were mostly implemented. However, we as Front had major questions to action lines 9a “ Increase the total student population through controlled and sustainable growth” and 9b “Monitoring the effects of growth and ensuring the availability of facilities and educational services”. Given the fact that the number of students has risen to almost 16,000 in 2018, where 15,000 were expected, we as Front highly doubt that there is a controlled and sustainable growth. Additionally, we had several remarks regarding the proposed Strategic Dashboard, which were taken into account by the Executive Board. The concept and the design of the Dashboard will be on the agenda for the university council of 4 July.