In June 2023, the university and the hospital announced plans to come together under a single board. Since then, discussions have taken place behind closed doors, particularly at the highest level. If it goes ahead, it could become the largest organisational undertaking in UM’s history since its founding in 1976. Importantly, it won’t just be an integration between the hospital and the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life sciences (FHML). Expertise from all the city-centre faculties will be required, and UM will not become a “health university”. In one of the first online Q&A sessions on the topic, Letschert and her MUMC+ counterpart Helen Mertens acknowledged “challenges in areas such as HR, facilities, IT and housing, but the pace of change will differ for each service”. Given the scale of the project, one might expect all faculty and service councils to have a say. In August, UM posted on its intranet that “the main outlines (...) have been presented to the participatory bodies of both organisations” and that “most” of these bodies had now reviewed them. But when Observant contacted almost all the councils, it turned out that very little information – let alone documents – had actually been shared. The exceptions were the University Council and the FHML Council (at UM).
So, what explains this? Letschert points to the formal procedures. The statutes of both the university and FHML will need to be amended, and only their respective councils have a say in this. “For the other five faculties, nothing will change in terms of mandate.” Still, Letschert and rector Pamela Habibović will visit the other councils in the coming months. “We want to include council members in our plans, to hear their concerns and their questions.”
The University Council, which ultimately holds the right of consent, has put together a list of “points for attention”, according to UM’s most recent intranet update. Will staff and students be informed of these points? Shouldn’t these discussions have been public? Letschert says it’s complicated, partly because MUMC+ operates differently. “There’s no Observant at their Works Council meetings. If the University Council discussed it in a public meeting, it’d be in the paper the next day, and MUMC+ staff would have to read about it there. That wouldn’t be fair.”
Even so, she says that more information will gradually be shared on the intranet in the coming months, including the points flagged by the University Council. These are now being incorporated into the official documents.