‘Sharing workspace not beneficial for scientists’

If the Executive Board and the Facility Services department were to be asked, then some employees of Tilburg University will have to share an office. With a new spatial distribution model Tilburg University wants to reduce the amount of workspaces by 500, thereby cutting costs. But is sharing an office beneficial for the quality of science and education? The University of Amsterdam compared the situation of Dutch universities with universities from different countries in a small-scale survey.

The new spatial distribution model will be essential in the austerity measures faced by Tilburg University. Research from Facilty Services showed that most workspaces were unoccupied for forty percent of the time. Conference rooms were occupied even less: the survey showed an occupation rate of only ten percent. The spatial distribution model will cut down the existing office spaces by 12 percent: creating a higher occupation rate and cutting down costs.

Not everyone is happy, however. Scientist and staff alike don’t like the idea of sharing a room with one or more co-workers. The board of directors denied the claim that everyone would have to share a room. They didn’t deny, however, that sharing rooms will become more frequent then it is now. The director of Facility Services said: ‘it will be frugal compared to our current, luxurious situation.’

The university of Amsterdam once surveyed other (international) universities. They were facing relocation and wanted to know if and how other universities shared rooms. They wrote to 28 universities that were listed on different places in two major higher education rankings: the Time Higher Education Ranking and the Shanghai ranking.

The research shows that all tenured staff – barring three universities – had their own office. A private office is the norm internationally. The Netherlands seems to be the only exception to this rule. The response demonstrated that having a private office is a essential condition for scientific labor. Scientists have to think in peace and quiet and problems with the confidentiality of their research may arise.

The paper concludes that sharing a room might endanger the research productivity and the competitive edge of universities.