There are many caveats: student enrolment will have to increase, more paid assignments will need to be secured, the laboratories should be more business-oriented, research and teaching must be organized more efficiently and everything will have to be tightly managed. But thanks in part to the promised financial and non-financial contributions from external organizations, the Earth Sciences bachelor’s program at VU Amsterdam can continue to exist.
VU decided this on the basis of a report by a special Taskforce, which over the past two months examined – using two scenarios – what is and is not possible for Earth Sciences.
Voluntarily working less
If everything goes well, which is very uncertain, the deficits Earth Sciences is currently struggling with could be resolved by 2030. But a tremendous effort will be required to meet several targets. If those targets are not met, Earth Sciences will still have to be phased out, as was the initial plan, under which the bachelor’s and a graduation track of the master’s would be discontinued and the Earth Sciences department would cease to exist, ultimately resulting in 43 employees losing their jobs.
Even in the new situation, some employees still face the threat of dismissal, though far fewer. In one scenario studied by the task force, 13 employees would be affected. That scenario includes rationalizing the curriculum and a reorganization. In the second scenario, in which staffing is reduced through natural attrition and employees voluntarily working fewer hours, no one faces dismissal.
Field Partners
Both scenarios include commitments of financial support from so-called field partners. These are partners with a stake in ensuring that an Earth Sciences programme continues to exist at VU Amsterdam and that have advocated for it in recent months. The report does not name the organizations, but groups such as TNO, the Royal Dutch Geological Mining Society, and research institute Deltares have spoken publicly in favour of preserving Earth Sciences at VU Amsterdam. They pledged 1.1 million euros in funding and 850,000 euros “in-kind” over the next five years. This includes things like guest lectures, special professorships, sponsorship of fieldwork, and so on.
Based on the report, VU Amsterdam and the faculty of science, to which Earth Sciences belongs, will draw up a reorganization plan. The uncertainty for staff is therefore not over yet, but the future looks more hopeful than it did this past April.