It was during the Spring Strategy Days in the spring of 2023 when it was first suggested that “our current organizational structures are no longer aligned with the needs of our evolving university,” according to an intranet post.

To investigate this matter further and advise on a possible restructuring, the so-called Future Governance TU/e working group (FGTU/e) was formed in September of that year. Yesterday, their final report was published internally.

Four departments

“The organic growth of the TU/e has led to an organization consisting of relatively small and highly specialized departments,” reads the report under the heading Problems with our current governance. According to the working group, this structure raises a number of concerns.

For example, there are major differences in working procedures among departments, leading to university-wide uncertainty about who is actually responsible for what. In addition, the large number of stakeholders – as a result of the many departments – is said to slow down the process of making and implementing decisions.

This also complicates interdisciplinary collaborations due to limited oversight of who is working on what. The report uses AI as an example: “Researchers from different departments work on the same tools without knowing this from each other.” According to the working group, the current number of departments creates “many boundaries between adjacent disciplines from different departments” and increases the number of “missed opportunities.” Restructuring into four departments would make it easier “to address societal challenges and respond to opportunities.”

The current division is also said to cause a “disbalance in size”. “The largest department is over ten times the size of the smallest department – leading to an uneven representation in the decision-making process,” the report states.

Advice

In the report, the working group offers the following advice for a possible restructuring into four departments:

• Faculty of Basic Sciences. Chemistry and Materials (split from CE&C) / Applied Physics / Biomedical Engineering / Mathematics
• Faculty of Applied Engineering. Computer Science / Electrical Engineering
• Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies. Chemical Engineering (split from CE&C) / Mechanical Engineering / Built Environment Engineering (split from BE)
• Faculty of Design and Innovation. Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences / Industrial Design / Built Environment Design (split from BE)

It is emphasized that this is what the new structure “could look like”. No final decisions have been made yet.

Major overhaul of service departments as well

In addition to restructuring the departments, the working group also recommends reevaluating the organization of the services. According to them, the current division (with ten service departments) is suboptimal. “Today, getting anything done requires going to many different services. For instance, to introduce digital testing in a course, you need General Affairs for policy, ESA for scheduling, planning and logistics, the department for the course organization, and IT for software support,” the report states.

That is why the working group proposes to consolidate the ten existing services into four new departments:

• Education Services. Responsible for the “full student journey”, from the first contact, to the study program, and to graduation.
• Research and Valorization Services. Responsible for the “full research journey”, from the initial idea, to funding, implementation, and – if applicable – even commercialization.
• General Services. Responsible for “TU/e-wide processes and activities, e.g. compliance, accounting and IT”.
• Real Estate and Facilities. Responsible for the “safe and clean environment of TU/e” with the main task of maintaining all buildings.

This proposal is not merely a restructuring, but also involves a division within existing services. Since many of the existing services are integral to several of the proposed divisions, this would require splitting some of the current services.

As with the departments, the proposal regarding the services is only an advice and not a final announcement.