This is not a reorganisation, stresses Nieke Guillory, secretary to the Executive Board; no one will be made redundant. But units – and in some cases staff – will be moved around, new units will be established, and People & Development (formerly HR) will move out of MUO. The revamped central office will focus on “strategy, policy, advice and leadership support. We’re hardly involved in day-to-day implementation.”
The group leaving MUO will become an “expertise centre”. The current service centres – including the Student Services Centre (SSC), the University Library and Facilities – will also be called expertise centres as of early next year. “It better reflects their role of sharing as well as facilitating knowledge and expertise. The current name only highlights the service aspect, but they also have a lot of policy and advisory tasks.”
New units
New units will also be introduced: the Sustainability Office, the International Office and a team dedicated to risk and safety management. “Our current approach is too fragmented. We’re coming at it from too many disciplines – finance, social safety, information management. We need a more coordinated approach to identifying risks, analysing how they affect each other and what actions we should take.”
Design of the building
The overhaul has been given careful consideration. Guillory consulted the Executive Board, directors and MUO management to identify strengths, weaknesses and needs, met with the Employees’ Council and analysed how other universities have organised their central offices. She also spoke with MUO’s roughly three hundred employees. They pointed out that their building on Minderbroedersberg is overcrowded yet full of “walls and closed doors”, hindering collaboration. “People often don’t know if a colleague is in, if they can drop in on each other. A small team is now working with an external company to explore ways to improve the design of the building. We’re still in the vision stage, but a partial renovation is one of the options being considered.”
The changes are expected to be completed by February 2026. From then on, MUO will also carry a new name: General Executive Affairs.