My colleagues and I in the Executive Board find it extremely important that we get input and feedback from the broader VU community about issues that impact the multiple dimensions of student and academic life on our campus, and the future directions of our university.

We engage in many ways with the community in formal and informal manners. We speak regularly with a wide range of stakeholders in formal meetings: the participatory organs – the employee’s council and the student council, with the Deans of the faculties, the faculty boards, the portfolio holders for education, research and knowledge transfer, the directors of the services, student organizations, and many others.

Informal interactions are equally important, and we spend a great deal of our time talking and listening to ideas, suggestions, and constructive criticism from a broad range of community members. These are all valuable ways of keeping tabs on what is “top of mind” for the various constituencies. We’ve just rolled out an ambitious strategy, see www.vu.nl/strategy, and in the coming months and years we will be implementing these aspirations, for which your input will be invaluable. How do we achieve our ambitions to be sustainable, enterprising and diverse? How do we continue to provide challenging and high-quality education, and perform cutting-edge research that addresses fundamental questions and societally-relevant problems? How do we balance the demands on our time? How do we trim unnecessary bureaucracy? How do we ensure that we’re able to quickly adapt to a rapidly changing higher education landscape?

Last year we experimented with open office hours with members of the Executive Board, and were pleased with the response and the input we received. We’re continuing with this activity, and invite you to share your ideas with us.
See vunet>serviceplein>beleid/organisatie>algemeen>spreekuren college van bestuur for more information and to sign up for a chat.

Our doors are wide open for the VU community. Please take this opportunity to contribute to the dialogue.