The number of women on the permanent academic staff has increased from 134 to 208 in five years, accounting for 29 percent of the total staff at the university. Robert-Jan Smits, Executive Board President, says in a press release: “This program has enabled us to attract a lot of top female talent from all over the world, we have been able to take a big step in terms of gender balance, and the culture around diversity is changing noticeably. However, we are not going to rest on our laurels: we want every department to achieve at least thirty percent. We are going to work hard on that over the next five years.”

In the coming years, the university wants all departments to reach a 30 percent share of women in academic staff. Vacancies for these departments will remain in the ICF-program until this is achieved. Also, every woman starting at these departments will receive 100k euros as a "start-up package" intended to get their research started. Initially, this was only for women in the ICF program. Newcomers will also be assigned an Irène Curie friend and scientist, who will welcome them within the TU/e and introduce them to the Dutch academic landscape. Finally, the university will do more to retain female talent by offering more career opportunities. In addition, TU/e is focusing on creating a culture change and improving facilities.

ICF

The main feature of the ICF program is that only women can apply for designated academic vacancies during the first six months of recruitment. After its launch, the initiative immediately proved controversial after the Human Rights Board ruled that the program discriminated on the basis of gender. In this new form, where vacancies can only be in the program if the percentage of woman in a certain job category falls below 30 percent, the program made a comeback. With success.