Universities are being pushed into a defensive position: how necessary are these critical institutions anyway? Many would like to see us restrict ourselves to matters that lead to immediate economic returns. But no progress is possible without the freedom to ask critical questions. This makes universities rather unpopular with autocratically-inclined elected representatives and their followers, and thus a target for cuts. At the same time, inside and outside our universities, there are influential groups who believe that, when all is said and done, universities are not critical enough, and therefore not socially relevant enough.
In this force field of contradictions, the university must maintain its balance. Academic freedom as a basic academic principle is fortunately strongly endorsed in the vast majority of the European Union – and it is in this line of freedom that we wish to continue to stand in Nijmegen. Free, critical universities are badly needed in an open and democratic society like ours. Universities make a crucial contribution to democracy, as do jurisprudence, journalism, and many faith communities. We must be vigilant and alert, and not allow democracy, which we love so much, to be taken away from us.
Of course, academic freedom comes with responsibility. As a university, we are also a fully professional organisation, that quite simply performs the useful task for which it was created, and doing so in an efficient manner. We are required to explain again and again how we can be both free and professional at the same time. The two in fact go well together, because critical freedom actually helps the university to be useful: free research is an engine of progress, delivering not only prosperity but also well-being. Radboud University is making an important contribution to this.
"Free, critical universities are badly needed in an open and democratic society like ours. As a broad-based university, we are more relevant and impactful than ever."
Let us take an example. You have undoubtedly noticed that we are recently seeing very different greenery everywhere; some call it colourful, others messy, but it certainly looks different from what we are used to. Radboud ecologists from the Future Dikes project have found that closely mowed greenery makes our dykes unnecessarily weak and does not help insects. Research shows that deep roots of flowering grass and flowers make stronger dykes while attracting more insects, which are in turn needed for a sustainable ecosystem, and that is very important for horticulture, to name an example. Connecting microbiology, environmental technology and landscape development seems like an obvious step. But it also takes data analytics, management science, law and economics to turn all these insights into policy at government and company level. And that policy cannot become practice without involving the knowledge and skills of landscape managers and farmers, who are thus given recognition as valuable experts by experience. Behavioural scientists and humanities scholars can help us understand what these landscape changes mean for those involved and for society, how we can make historical sense of them, and what options for action are possible.
Thinking through Future Dikes, you can therefore oversee the whole: looking at the ecological, technological, economic and human aspects together, in their interrelationships and dependencies. As Radboud University, we form an academic community that can develop such a broad perspective on the whole. We are at the centre of society, and since our origins we have had connections with both regional organisations and broad groups in society. And as an internationally renowned science institution, we contribute to current knowledge development in the relevant academic fields.
And we have more Radboud collaboration themes about which I could tell a similar story: the value of AI for people and society, for example, or the workings of the brain, to name just two. What a unique position we are in to bring together academic curiosity and societal issues. A position that allows us to continue to contribute to a healthy and free world with equal opportunities for all. Thanks to our breadth, we therefore have more relevance and impact than ever.
But dealing professionally with so many disciplines is challenging as available resources dwindle. That issue is therefore central to the strategy process we embarked on six months ago, under the direction of our President Alexandra van Huffelen. What should we as a broad university focus on in the coming strategic period, from 2026 to 2031, and why? Let us be honest and note that it is challenging to have an austerity period coincide with a period in which strategic policy choices are being prepared. Ideally, a vision of the organisation's course would be ready on which one could base austerity choices. Of course, much consultation and preparation around this has already taken place. Therefore, the strategic reorientation also provides an opportunity to shape austerity measures in conjunction with new policies.
"Let us be honest and note that it is challenging to have an austerity period coincide with a period in which strategic policy choices are being prepared."
In any event, budget cuts demand that we deal more efficiently, and more sustainably, with housing and lecture halls. In addition, adjustments and also reorganisation on a number of points are unavoidable within the professional services. Digitisation, further automation and more cooperation are essential in reviewing our operations. We have been hard at work on this review process for the past year under the direction of Vice President Agnes Muskens. New choices that are made in this regard may result in work being divided and organised differently, thus increasing efficiency and reducing perceived workload; this will also lead to a decrease in personnel and material costs.
When it comes to faculty teaching we can unfortunately also not escape budget cuts. Faculties are already working on an efficiency process. Actually, it is all about being more ‘economical’ in deploying scientific experts. After all, our scientific areas of expertise are our valuables, our capital, and we should take care of the people who develop and carry out those areas of expertise. Over the past year, we have considered these issues in depth, following the institutional quality assessment that was conducted in May, and out of a need to keep our education workable and at the same time attractive to new generations of students – especially internationally. Precisely because we are a broad university, we need to attract at least an equal number of students so that we can continue to fund our breadth.
Some faculties have started combining courses within and across study programmes, reducing detailed elective courses, and modularising innovative programme tracks that should offer students more choice and more combination options. These kinds of changes naturally evoke hesitation, but also often enthusiasm. In the past few months, there have been many positive meetings of colleagues who want to explore and pursue such new pathways, driven by a common question: how can we enrich disciplinary approaches with interdisciplinary and inter-faculty opportunities?
"Our origins as a university for groups that until that time did not have good access to academia remain essential in the future."
In short, this vision amounts to reducing the number of building blocks in our teaching, while expanding the stackability of those building blocks. This requires great self-confidence on the part of the experts who will be working more together, and on the part of our organisation as a whole. And we may have that confidence. From our inception, we have always believed that we should tackle scientific and societal research questions together. Our new strategy aims to extend that approach to our teaching.
Many students are pinning their hopes on this approach, as they have expressed on several occasions in university participational bodies. They would like to take more advantage of the breadth we have. The steps we are taking are therefore hopeful: a positive message to the generation that is expectantly starting on their academic studies today. Our education can thus become more flexible, easier to combine and better aligned with interdisciplinary and inter-faculty research. This approach also does justice to all we have built up over the past century and, in the process, can appeal to new, broad student groups.
This touches on another deep-rooted meaning of our breadth as Radboud University: the historically rooted breadth of our student body. Our origins as a university for groups that until that time did not have good access to academia remain essential in the future. After all, education and research are a common good, for everyone; this principled accessibility is something that we continue to embrace at Radboud University. I called us a professional organisation earlier, but even more than that, we are a community. This is what distinguishes us as Radboud University.
In our new strategy we will further develop this accessibility, because we are also and especially there for those who are not yet sure what to study, and for those for whom studying is not obvious, as they may be the first to do so in their community or the place they come from. Yes, that still happens, in some regions and groups, including in our own region. This calls for closer cooperation with schools and other organisations. Of course, this accessibility also applies to people who decide to study later in life, or who want to pursue further training after their academic education, and of course also to students from abroad!
To be accessible to all these groups, we need to maintain a balance between freedom and professionalism. We are not a political institution, but a knowledge institution, and we explicitly ask that everyone who wants to study or work freely at this university adheres to agreements about treating knowledge and one another with respect. In our community, debates can be abrasive and actions can create tension. We have experienced this on several occasions recently. We are happy to support academic debate and facilitate demonstrations, but we call on everyone to ensure that the campus remains a safe and good place to be for everyone. That way, even when we disagree with each other, we can ensure that anyone who genuinely wants to seek knowledge feels at home with us. As a university community, let us remain united and tolerant, especially during challenging times like these.
"As a university community, let us remain united and tolerant, especially during challenging times like these."
And ultimately, our essential impact lies at that deeper level. As a university community, we guard truth-seeking and knowledge development as values in and of themselves. In a society that seems to increasingly downplay the usefulness of knowledge, this gives us a moral position that will only become more important with time. The organisations in our area, with whom we work, make it clear that this is also what they expect from our university. We must continue to seek and impart that knowledge; we must continue to ask critical questions; we must have those uncomfortable conversations again and again. In this context, we emphatically call on our political leaders to once again fully recognise and fund our scientific mission, and to reverse the budget cuts.
In the meantime, the strategic choices and austerity choices we make as a university will require further elaboration, support and alignment in the coming months. We do not know exactly what we are going to run into and what will be needed; unfortunately, like other universities, we cannot rule out reorganisations. These choices also require seeing opportunities and remaining hopeful.
"The strategic choices and savings measures we make as a university also call for recognising opportunities and maintaining a sense of hope."
Some people say that it is better to be optimistic than hopeful. Optimism, as defined by Paul van Tongeren, is expecting things to work out. That is something you mainly do when there are good reasons for it; and we have a lot of good reasons to be optimistic. But hope goes beyond that. Hope orients us, focusing our expectations in the right direction. To quote Václav Havel: hope is the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. So having hope is something you do because you have faith that something is worth trying and putting effort into it.
Seen this way, hope is above all an attitude, a virtue; it is a mission. All the good ideas that employees are coming up with in the task forces and throughout the strategy process, all the opportunities for cooperation that organisations and people around us are putting forward, all the positive expectations expressed by students: yes, together, these form a mission, which gives us energy and direction. And it is a mission we claim as ours. Let us work together, with hope. If we act together, we can continue to give shape to our so cherished breadth – a new shape. We urgently need each other. And we, together, as Radboud University, are urgently needed."
