fifty million euros at stake
Minister and three TU's not yet aligned
In the coming weeks, the boards of the technical universities of Delft, Eindhoven, and Twente want to provide the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science with detailed information on the progress of their federation plans. As it turns out, the ministry is not fully updated.
This status update is a requirement now that the cabinet has reserved 50 million euros for the integration process of the three technological universities in their recent Easter agreement. The funding is not without conditions: the cabinet wants the federation formed by 2007 instead of 2010, as was the plan up till now. Two weeks ago, board members of the three TUs visited Minister of Education Maria van der Hoeven to discuss the matter.
`The minister would like us to take an irreversible step towards the 3TU federation', Chairman of the Executive Board of the University of Delft Hans van Luijk explains, speaking for all three chairmen. `She wants us to not only cooperate in certain projects, but also show our commitment at a management level.'
But according to Van Luijk, the TUs took that irreversible step last January when, after months of discussion, they agreed on the `3TU constitution' and the administrative structure of future cooperation. This document describes the purpose and powers of the chairmen consultation - the highest layer of government in the federation. The document also explains matters such as employee and student participation and the role of the supervisory councils.
Van Luijk: `We said to the minister: take a look at that agreement, a lot of things are already in there.' But, as it turns out, people at the ministry did not know the details of the agreement, nor did they know about the plans for the Netherlands Institute for Research on ICT (Nirict), which is named by the three chairmen as an example of concrete, far-reaching cooperation. The Nirict will bring together all the ICT programs at the universities of Eindhoven, Twente, and Delft. Van Luijk speaks of harmonisation and cooperation. `The Nirict could serve as a valid model for future cooperation in other research areas.'
The three chairmen would like to explain this in detail as soon as possible to the specialists at the ministry. Van Luijk: `We understand the ministry's goals and feel that they can be realised within the current agreements.'
Van Luijk assures us that the three TUs will not rush the process just because there is a 50 million euro subsidy on the table. `We will not change the administrative structure; we will manage this within the constraints of our agreement.'
At the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science no one can confirm whether the three TUs will get their follow-up meeting. A spokesperson informs us that it is `far from certain' that the three TUs will receive the money.
Trans. Jeroen Latour |
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