University Council July 4th

Headlines FIRMa 2020 – 2024 (UR 2395) for consent CFI 

According to the right of consent to participation, a forerunner memorandum should be offered parallel to the FIRMa in which the elements covered by the right of consent are included. For the FIRMa this concerns:

– Distribution of the resources of strategic policy priorities in the field of education, research and valorisation. This concerns: 

1.  plans for the use of faculty reserves for projects to which several faculties contribute financially to a total of more than €1 million for the planning period. 

2. the budget for key points of the strategic plan (€16 million for the period of the Strategic Plan). 

3. from 2018 onwards, the use of the resources for a quality impulse on the basis of the Study Advance Act.  

– Housing investment plan (part of the Long-term Housing Plan) and ICT.  

The FIRMa itself is on the table for advice.  

Adjustments and changes to the university distribution model itself (FIRM) will also be submitted to the University Council for approval. 

Front asked questions about the consequences of the Committee van Rijn to the FIRMa of Tilburg University. The Executive Board stated that the impact of the Committee Van Rijn is not known yet, but ensured the University Council that Tilburg University is financially stable and is able to foresee the consequences.

The University Council consented unanimously.

FIRMa 2020 – 2024 (UR 2396) for advice CFI 

The FIRMa 2020 – 2024 outlines the expected financial framework of Tilburg University. The faculty’s forecasts for education and research form the basis for this. Expected national developments have been mapped out and, as far as possible, included in the expectations for the resources framework. An estimate has been made of the Spring Memorandum of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Internally, it was decided to change the structure of the faculty’s fixed base with effect from 2020. The outlined frameworks serve as a basis for the budgets that the administrative units draw up later this year. 

The expected increase in the resources framework is in line with TiU’s strategic goal of achieving controlled and sustainable growth. 

The income from Institutional College fees and Other income will be fully allocated to the contributing faculty. The State contribution and the statutory tuition fees are divided over 5 sub-funds.

For the current academic year (2018/19), 15,781 students have registered. The Faculties expect further growth to 18,500 students. The expected growth between 2018 and 2024 is 17%.

The University Council has advised positively

Horeca and retail view (UR 2397) for advice CFI 

Commissioned by Tilburg University, Hospitality Group has drawn up this vision document regarding the vision on horeca and retail on campus. In this horeca and retail view, a number of concrete ideas have been formulated to further develop and strengthen our vibrant campus (enhance a living campus): 

1. A direct outdoor connection of the outlets in the Food Court, where possible combined with terraces; 

2. A lively square between Tias, Library, Cube and Food Court, where possible combined with terraces; 

3. The move of the outlet in Academia (Top Croque) to Montesqieu will also create the possibility of a terrace on the side of the Esplanade. 

4. The realization of a student café in the building where the Food Court will be located. 

This summer Pepper in the Prisma building will be closed. Pepper visitors can make use of the other facilities. In order to cope with possible extra crowds in the restaurant, Facility Services is currently investigating the possibility of opening Tilbury 2 and 3 to everyone.

Furthermore the document pays a great deal of attention to the main principles of Tilburg University for the horeca and retail on campus which are among others: sustainability, health, banqueting and the flexibility of the contract. 

All parties advised positively

Budget request refresh Dante (UR 2398) for advice CFI 

The renovation of Dante building has been postponed, this budget request is to refresh of Dante as a result of the postponement. A number of alterations have to be carried out to ensure that TSHD is well accommodated in the building, such as modification of offices, lecture halls, providing various rooms with new carpeting and paintwork, and some technical adjustments. 

The total investment is estimated at EUR 400k which includes contingencies, VAT, and operating costs. The University Council has unanimously given a positive advice. 

Subscription Sports Center other groups (UR 2400) for discussion DB 

As a result of the crowdedness at the Sports Center, Facility Services (FS) took a look at the target groups that are given the opportunity to buy a sports pass. To reduce the crowdedness, especially during peak hours, FS has several options:

1. Expansion of the capacity elsewhere in the city.

2. Spread the hustle and bustle over the day buy providing a ‘off-peak subscription’

3. Reducing pressure by reducing the number of non-students or non-employees

FS chose to reduce the pressure by reducing the number of non-students or non-employees. FS proposes to:

1. HAVO 5-VWO 6 students pay the full amount.

2. Alumni are able to sport at the low rate for one year and after five years, they are no longer able to buy a sports card.

3. Employees of other educational institutions pay the full amount.

4. Access for friends stops.

5. Day tickets are only sold to people who are entitled to purchase a sports subscription.

The document was discussed, in the opinion of Front the measures taken are good, but doesn’t really solve the capacity problem and the capacity needs to be expanded, especially when Tilburg University keeps growing at the current rate. 

Monitoring Action Plan 18-21 Actualization Action Lines (UR 2401) for consent DB 

During the meeting of March 21st 2019 the University Council was informed about the actualization of the Action Lines Strategy 2018-2021 which are mentioned in the Action Plan 2018-2021 (UR2235). 17 action lines are defined. 6 action lines do not request any actualization. In case of 9 action lines deliverables are refined to be more specific OR some technical adjustments are needed. There are only 2 action lines, action line 4 and action line 8, which need to be changed and refined with respect to content to support the action line and its objective constructively.

Profile Fund Regulations (UR 2403) for consent DB 

The Profile Fund Regulations are an appendix to the Student Charter. 

The following adjustment is included: the Excellence Scholarships are no longer in the regulations, as they are no longer funded by the Profile Fund. An alternative is being developed in which the original goal of the Excellence Scholarship is maintained, carried out by International Office. 

All the other changes are editorial in nature. 

The Executive Board has adopted the Profile Fund Regulations and submits them to the University Council for consent.

The University Council consented unanimously on the proposed changes.

Student Charter 2019-2020 (UR 2404) for consent DB

The Student Charter sets out the rights and obligations of students in different areas and has three parts: 

1. Regulations Registration and Tuition fees

2. Regulations Profile Fund and

3. Regulations DualCareer 

The student Charter must be renewed every year. It is a formality to let update the council about this every year. There are no particular changes this year worth mentioning.

Financial Compensation Student Boards (UR 2405) for advice DB 

In the University Council of 23 May 2019, the student parties stated that there is currently not enough financial compensation for student board members.In the view of the study loan system, it is becoming less and less financially attractive for students to do a board year. As a result of this discussion, there have been several discussions between the student parties of the University Council and the Executive Board, during which various proposals have been submitted. However, the University Council and the Executive Board have come to the conclusion that it is not possible to come up with a new financial valuation system within a short period of time. For the time being, the University Council and the Executive Board have agreed on certain headlines for the new financial valuation system. The coming months will be used to develop a Covenant Student Community. This covenant will be include:

1. Proposals that contribute to the effective and efficient organisation of management activities.

2. A critical analysis of the student board members who currently receive seven, eight or nine months of board grants (in 2018/2019 138 student board members). On the basis of this analysis, an objective way is developed to grant the right compensation to the right students. These criteria are also aimed at preventing abuse of the board grant system. 

3. The annual increase in tuition fees will be taken into account.

4. A maximum amount of 80,000 euros 

5. The covenant will be considered as an alternative elaboration of the Board of Governors and Flexible Study.

Numerus Fixus BSc Psychology (UR 2406) for advice DB 

In this document the Management of the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences requests the Executive Board to establish a fixed quota (numerus fixus) of 600 students for the Bachelor’s program in Psychology as of the academic year 2020/2021. The Bachelor’s program in Psychology has grown rapidly in four years. Partly due to a re-profiling of the curriculum with a unique set of majors and minors, the introduction of a program that can be attended in both Dutch and English, and years of good evaluations by the students, the intake has grown from 245 (in 2015/2016) to 78 (in 2018/2019) in four years. For the coming year, an intake of at least 1100 students is expected. An intake of this size is not manageable for TSB, that’s why they think a fixed quota is the only effective way to regulate the intake. The parties advised positively

TiU Sustainability Plan 2019-2021 (UR 2407) for advice CFI 

The TiU Strategic Plan 2018-2021 highlights the importance of sustainability. In this Sustainability Plan, this has been worked out in more detail. Taking the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an inspirational framework, the plan formulates an overall sustainability vision and identifies for each of the four pillars (education, research, campus and asset management) concrete actions and ambitions.

The plan articulates the sustainability vision and explains the central principles (§2), a description of TiU’s commitment to sustainability within the pillars of education (§3), research (§4), campus (§5). An objective is formulated for each pillar, which is then elaborated into a number of concrete actions and results. Subsequently, a vision is given on the role of communication and reporting (§6). Finally, important preconditions for an effective sustainability policy are considered: internalization of sustainability in our organization and finances (§8.)

The EB has adopted the TiU Sustainability Plan 2019-2021 and submitted it to the University Council for advice. 

The University Council advised positively.

Vision on Student Well-being (UR 2408) for advice CFI 

With this document Tilburg University wants to show that it is very involved in the well-being of its students. They want students to feel welcome and connected to the university because they believe that this does not only contribute to the general well-being of students, but also, largely, to study success.  

In this document it is stated that there is a shared responsibility within our university learning community for: 

1. Creating the conditions for well-being to flourish 

2. Early detection if the well-being of students comes under pressure 

3. Awareness of the differences in starting positions of the various student populations within the university and the associated risks 

4. Providing support, advice and referral when there are obstacles to the study progress and study success of the individual student or groups of students. 

In order to give shape to the vision on student well-being in practice, an integrated approach will be developed. Within this approach, different organizations and actors work together on an equal footing to improve the activities regarding student well-being. 

The University Council has given a positive advice.

Response to memo SAM on communication and user comfort OSIRIS (UR 2409) for discussion n.v.t 

Student Party SAM handed in an initiative with multiple proposals regarding communication and user comfort in Osiris. The Executive Board welcomes the initiative and would like to use this document as an opportunity to inform the University Council about the developments in the application landscape and to place them in a single overview. 

In short, for a number of the proposals, consultations will be held about feasibility and costs. Afterwards, the investment in the short term will be weighed against the possibilities offered by changes in the application landscape. As of the new academic year, the improvement of the presentation of examinations and the reporting of new results will come into fruition. The Board promises to improve the information on the use of the different applications overall.

Amendement Gemeenschappelijke Regeling JADS (UR 2411)

The Executive Boards of TiU and TU/e in collaboration with the Steering Committee of JADS and the Management Team of JADS Mariënburg (or JADS/db) developed a draft Common Arrangement JADS. The Executive Boards of TiU and TU/e reached a preliminary agreement in December 2018. On February 13 and 14, 2019 the Board of Governors and the University Council gave their consent on this Version.

TU/e stalled its decision on the Common Arrangement until May 2019, which enabled a technical optimization. As a result the policy and mandate concerning the hiring of scientific staff is further developed. JADS Mariënburg is risk accountable for its temporary and regular (scientific) staff. All other changes on the Common Arrangement are primarily technical by nature.