93 handtekeningen voor petitie

93 medestanders hebben tot nu toe een petitie getekend waarin zes Tilburgse topwetenschappers oproepen het beleid van Tilburg University te veranderen. Het gaat om verschillende UvT’ers en oud-personeel van de universiteit.

De petitie is vorige week online gezet door Eric van Damme (TiSEM), Cyrille Fijnaut (TLS), Marc Groenhuijsen (TLS), Arjen van Witteloostuijn (TiSEM), Siegwart Lindenberg (TSB) en Aart de Zeeuw (TiSEM). Ze verwijten daarin de universiteitsbestuurders te veel voor winstmaximalisatie te gaan en geen duidelijke visie te hebben.

Hieronder een kleine bloemlezing:

Tobias Klein, universitair docent bij TiSEM en lid van fractie TiU-international:
“A university is not a firm, and making a profit can never by our goal. Rather, our actions should be geared towards reaching two goals: excellence in teaching and excellence in research. This has been threatened recently, and, in line with the mission of www.tiu-international.nl, I am very much in favor of having an honest discussion about the next steps that have to be taken so that Tilburg University remains the special place it still is.”

Arnoud-Jan Bijsterveld, hoogleraar bij TSB:

“Allow a bottom-up approach replacing the oekazes from the top.”

“When I arrived at Tilburg University some 14 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised by its open atmosphere in which members of the university board would occasionally share their ideas with us professors. There were many opportunities to meet colleagues from other schools and they were far more interested than now to know each other and to discuss university policy. This atmosphere is gone. In recent years the university has gone through an intense process of bureaucratization and is now governed by ‘management by default’ (‘everybody has to fill out this form even if this irrelevant to you’) and ‘management by distrust’. Colleagues have withdrawn into their monodisciplinary fields and collaboration between school has become very hard, especially in the field of education, as this would ‘damage’ the income of one’s own school or department. As a result, to my great regret I feel being unheard and feeling left out of discussions on the aims of our work, which increasingly appears to be only about meeting quantitative (read: financial) targets. Nevertheless, the university’s real capital is its human capital, nothing else. The management of the university and its schools to me appears not to be open to ideas and suggestions ‘from below’. Worse still, some managers don’t seem to care about the interests of students and lecturers at all: some of their decisions and the increasing number of procedures clearly run counter to what present-day students and lecturers expect from academic teaching. Some of the supporting services do not provide adequate services at all and instead burden lecturers with more administration. This petition not only discloses some of the things that have to be changed for the better but also makes reasonable suggestions to be followed. What I expect from my cherished university is trust, respect, and freedom to do my work to meet the highest standards in both education and research. Instead of complaining, as I and many of my colleagues tend to do, it is time now to take matters in our own hands. And this has to start by recreating an academic atmosphere of discussion and debate, and by allowing a bottom-up approach replacing the oekazes from the top.”

Ben Vollaard, universitair docent bij TiSEM:
“This would make things better, it is a welcome contribution to the public good.”

Kees de Groot, universitair docent bij TST:
“The idea of a university is to promote knowledge. The idea of a firm is to maximize profit. Tilburg University should cultivate a culture and a structure that suits the pursuit of knowledge.”

Marco da Rin, universitair docent bij TiSEM:
“TiU has been unwilling to put top scholars on top. Under ever stronger competition from business and economics school worldwide, either we change quickly or many top scholars will leave and TiU will retreat back to a provincial player.”

Arie Kapteyn, voormalig hoogleraar econometrie aan TiU:
“I have been a little reluctant to sign this, as I don’t want to be seen as meddling in another university’s affairs as an ex-employee. I do however care very much about the success of Tilburg University, as my previous employer. I work for an American university, where research and teaching is central. Any major university is led by professionals with a strong academic background (including Nobel laureates). This petition should not be seen as antagonistic towards the non-academic professionals. However an ambitious university should be led by management with a stellar academic track record.”

Kim Smolderen, voormalig promnovendus TSB:

“I too left TiU not too long ago as I kept waiting for a strong and clear vision.”

“I cherish fond memories of the 12 years that I have spent at Tilburg University. First as a student, then as a PhD student, Post-Doc and then as Junior Faculty. While TiU initially very much contributed to my growth, I did see the climate change over the years. I too left TiU not too long ago as I kept waiting for a strong and clear vision and facilitating environment that would help academicians with a successful funding track record and international reputation to thrive. I was in my last year of VENI funding and had just acquired 2 new grants upon leaving. This call-to-action is refreshing to hear and is voicing a lot of the concerns I was having. I hope this call will be the start to generate the critical mass needed to help TiU and its researchers become more successful and thriving.”

Het CvB heeft al laten weten dat ze de petitie in ontvangst zal nemen en in gesprek wil gaan over de inhoud.

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