How the nine departments are currently arranged would no longer be ideal in today's society. This is because many technical challenges of today, such as energy transition, require knowledge from different disciplines. At the beginning of this calendar year, the university therefore wrote in a message on Intranet that “fewer units” (departments, ed.) would make the organization “more manageable and easier in terms of (mutual) coordination".

The Governance working group was formed to advise on the appropriate structure. Led by Edwin van den Heuvel, dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, several information and input sessions were organized. Discussions were held with parties within the university - all faculty boards, the University Council, professors, and the entire TU/e community through open sessions - but also with parties outside the university, such as experts in the field of governance and (inter)national university directors.

Based on this, the Governance working group wrote an advisory report that will be presented to the EB. 

Delay

According to Van den Heuvel, the plan was to deliver this final report before the summer, but this deadline has now been pushed back to November. “At the start of the working group, there was no end date given, but after the Strategy Days last April, the intention was to write a report before the summer vacation.”

The fact that this deadline was not met, Van den Heuvel attributes to himself. “There was a first draft before summer, but due to personal circumstances I didn't get around to it,” he explains. After the summer, he picked up the report again with several working group members. “Unfortunately, we were still not satisfied and started rewriting parts.” 

Currently, an updated version is with all working group members for input. “This input is then incorporated into a near finished version that we then want to discuss one more time with the working group before the report becomes final. Before this process is finished, we are realistically in November.”

Non-binding advice

Once the report is final, it will be turned over to the EB. Van den Heuvel emphasizes that this is a non-binding advice. “The working group does not determine whether governance will change or what it will look like should it be decided to change the current organization of departments.”