These are just a few points from the strategic document which was recently passed – without significant debate – by the Faculty Council, and which is the result of eighteen months of deliberation, discussion and calculation. It sets out the priorities for the coming years. As in previous years, sustainability, new technology and globalisation remain important topics in teaching and research.
Something of a cloud
‘Organisational development’ is another important topic: how do you ensure the faculty is adequately able to respond to a rapidly changing world? Because the process of formulating the strategy happened under something of a cloud. Firstly, due to the budget cuts to higher education announced by the previous government, said dean Mariëlle Heijltjes. Reason enough to divide seventy members of SBE into work groups to brainstorm about how and where the faculty could function more efficiently and effectively. For example, personnel: “Do we always have to replace retirees with someone at the same level? Or could we appoint a junior instead?” The new government seems to have dropped the planned budget cuts, “but they still have to find majority support for those plans”. The faculty hopes that working more efficiently would free up a total of 6 million euros by 2030 for investments.
Then there is the decreasing number of teenagers – and thus potential students – in the Netherlands. A problem for universities in general, where finances depend for a large part on the number of students. Time to find alternative sources of income, for example, through closer collaboration between UMIO and the Maastricht School of Management. Both offer post-academic education. With the increasing importance of ‘lifelong learning’, it is a market with solid financial potential, said Heijltjes.
Strategy mark
Overall, the new strategy is not radically different to the previous one: sustainable development, new technologies (such as artificial intelligence, AI), and ‘globalisation with regional embedding’ remain important topics. However, where in the last period, 1.2 million euros a year was needed for strategic initiatives, that figure now rises to 3.6 million a year. Where will that money come from and would it come at the expense of budgets for departments? The answer is no: it comes from an increase in expected income and plans to improve efficiency. More activities will also be marked as strategy activities, including some that have already happened and have already seen investments, for example, contributions from the SBE to the Brightlands campuses, such as the programmes in Venlo. Researchers will also be able to submit plans to the board that align with any of the priorities. Although it is not a guarantee they will receive the requested funding, “only if the proposal is supported sufficiently”.
The proposed integration of the MUMC+ and the university is not mentioned in the strategy document at all. Heijltjes does not think that necessary; rather, that merger offers opportunities for interfaculty research. She is not worried that non-medical faculties such as hers will get lost in the integration. “SBE employees will still be able to do non-medical related research.”