University Council June 8 2018
It was a dynamic university council, according to Rien Wijnhoven, chairman of the University Council. The privacy and personal data protection policy was approved. You can find more about this on the site: https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/nl/disclaimer/privacy-statement.htm
What does the campus look like in 5 years? This and the process were described in the strategic real estate vision. In the previous CFI meeting, the plan had been taken back by the Board because there were still many questions about what the risk would be if fewer students came to Tilburg University. Also important to us; what will happen to the student board members in building E and P? Fortunately, we got good news this time! The board members in E may remain seated and the board members in building P will move to a central location on the campus until the new board offices at the location of building P are finished.
At the agenda point Headlines and preliminary proposals FIRMa, we indicated to be pleased with the memo from the College. This states that the quality agreements will be made sooner so that we can ensure that our submitted study grant will be spent well in time. We will also take a seat in the working group with other groups to draw up the guidelines for the coming years.
In the Code of Conduct for the Language of Instruction, we understood the Board’s reasoning that more courses and programs are taught in English as a result of the increased internationalization. We wondered if there are any guidelines when it is possible to deviate and who decides about it. The board indicated that this code of conduct is a starting point from which further actions ensue. It will be arranged in the OER, which the degree program committee has control over.
At present, the Aula is always used as a location for important events such as promotions. However, often no more than 20/30 people are present at such a promotion, leaving a lot of capacity unused. That is why the board has proposed to renovate the Portrettenzaal so that promotions can also be held here. However, the budget is pretty high. Since a promotion is a very important moment in the lives of the people involved, Sam and Front have opted not to advocate for cutbacks and to accept the proposal of the CVB. However, the employee parties were not satisfied and voted negatively. Because Independents Group lacked 2 persons due to circumstances, a majority of 2 seats voted positive.
As probably some of you have already read in AD, JADS suffers more loss than budgeted in Den Bosch. This was the reason why the university council was extra critical on the budget JADS 2018 piece. There was asked for more grip on the situation. This was promised by the board by sharing the Governance Report shortly after the summer and an updated business case in November. In addition, the budget will be presented on time in November.
Furthermore, the Executive Board had a nice announcement: on the Whit Monday the library will be open next year. This after questions from Front in the CFI survey. It is checked whether more students will be present than on an average Sunday. If this is the case, then the library will stay open on Whit Sunday.
Finally, during the survey, we submitted an initiative proposal on flexible language courses. We appreciate it very much that there are 2 language vouchers offered for a student at Tilburg University and we hear that students gratefully use the opportunity to participate in a language course. However, we also regularly hear other sounds such as the fact that language courses are full within no time, have a lot of overlap with other lectures and that the courses have too many contact hours. That is why we have come up with a proposal, namely offering more flexible language courses, such as an online language course. We would like to look at this together with the Board.