On 3 October 2024, the Executive Board of uu77 commissioned the Partnerships Advisory Committee to assess the University's partnerships, with a special focus on international partner institutions in conflict zones. The Advisory Committee has been established for the course of the current academic calendar year (2024-2025). In parallel, the Executive Board also commissioned a participatory process, inviting the University community to reflect with each other on university partnerships.
Task of the Advisory Committee
To perform its task well, the Committee needs to a) formulate a guideline on the basis of which partnerships can be assessed, and b) assess partnerships on the basis of this guideline. Since uu77 is engaged in more than 100 institution-wide collaborations with partners from outside the EU and many other partnerships at interfaculty level, the Advisory Committee will initially review a limited number of partnerships.
Approach for the first phase
For the duration of its assignment (the current academic year), the Committee will first focus on formulating the said guideline and assessing a number of institution-wide partnerships in conflict areas. Among these partnerships are at least those with Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. That way, the Committee can review the partnerships most under pressure, while also further developing the said guideline. After this academic year, this guideline will be useful for anyone who wants to be able to independently make an initial assessment of whether a partnership is responsible.
In this first phase, the Committee will not assess newly formed partnerships. The Committee recommends that newly-formed partnerships be provisionally treated as has been the practice so far. If the researcher, Dean, support staff or the Board nevertheless have questions about the suitability of a new or existing partnership, they can contact acp [at] ru.nl.
Relationship to the participatory process
In parallel with the Partnerships Advisory Committee, a participatory process has been established. The University will communicate separately about this. The Advisory Committee and the participatory process are intended to reinforce each other in a joint learning process.
Communication
For questions regarding the Advisory Committee's assignment, please contact acp [at] ru.nl (acp[at]ru[dot]nl).