Strong participation is essential for our university community. As a special university, Radboud University can deviate from the Higher Education and Scientific Research Act (Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, WHW) within its governance. However, the current deviations can create ambiguity and lead to differences in interpretation and thus discussions on procedures rather than content. The original aim of the future-proof participational project is to formulate a proposal that is as close as possible to the WHW , while keeping in mind our identity and the legal personality of our university, in order to create more clarity and uniformity.
To optimise this, we are starting, on behalf of the University Joint Assembly and the Executive Board, to formulate a proposal based on principles agreed between the participation bodies and the university management. The aim is for the implementation of this agreement in principle to lead to a fully-fledged alternative to the current participation system and the relevant regulations. The intended result is future-proof employee participation in which procedures are clear and people can discuss the content constructively.
A detailed explanation of the agreement in principle and the reasons for this project is attached as a download.
How did we proceed?
At the UGV meeting on 19 May, the first phase of this project was concluded with the agreement in principle, which was approved by both the Executive Board and the University Joint Meeting. In the run-up to this, in addition to university-wide level, participation representatives and administrators from faculties and study programmes were also involved. A broad discussion with all stakeholders was essential to create broad support for the proposed changes.
Planning
The trajectory started with a kick-off symposium on Future-Proof Participation on 11 October 2024, followed by pick-up sessions in November and January. In these sessions, we collected input from all participation bodies. Based on this, a writing group will work on a proposal, with a first version in early January. After rounds of feedback and testing for support and feasibility, the final proposal will be submitted to the university joint assembly at the end of March 2025. This proposal was approved in May. This proposal was approved in May. This also marks the start of a new phase of the project, namely the implementation phase. During this phase of the project, the regulations will be amended during the participation cycle on the basis of the implementation plan (part of the agreement in principle). Many of the regulations refer to each other, which requires careful and clear action by the project team in order to be able to submit these documents for amendment. For this reason, the project team has opted for a long-term process of two years.
There will also be room for interim feedback. For example, the project team wants to involve the university and faculty participation bodies and administrators in proposed changes to the UGV/FGV regulations and the USR/FSR regulations by organising a reflection session. Based on the schedule, this will take place between December 2025 and December 2026.
Strong employee participation is something we do together: have your say!
All staff and students are part of our academic community and have an interest in strong co-determination. We therefore invite everyone to contribute to this process and work together towards a clear and widely supported system. You can do this by providing input directly to the project team or via the project team's email address. You can also do so during the reflection session on the UGV/FGV regulations and during the reflection session on the USR/FSR regulations.