Section 6 EUR – Operational management

In EUR's transition to an impact-driven university, it is important to modernise the current system for recognising and rewarding academic staff. 

A great deal of excellent progress has already been made at EUR level, showing that the culture change around Recognition and Rewards is becoming increasingly tangible and visible. The programme team initiated a broad culture change, working through various activities to raise awareness, initiate discussion, bring together a top-down and bottom-up movement and engage in structural collaborations inside and outside the university. 

Various tools have been developed and implemented, and employees are increasingly noticing that space is opening up for all the activities and talents of academics. Example of the tools developed are the differentiated career paths at assistant professor, associate professor and professor level. These are available within more and more faculties and enable both horizontal and vertical career paths to focus on the areas of education, research, impact/engagement, leadership/management and patient care. 

Recognition and Rewards is also being set out in greater detail at faculty level. A number of faculties, with the help of seed funding, have appointed someone to actively work on the topic at faculty level.

Several faculties have also held information sessions and conversations are being held with both the management team and the employees themselves.

Developments within EUR are in line with the national and international situation. More and more knowledge institutions are taking specific steps in areas such as using narratives and creating space for differentiated career paths. 

The Learning & Career Centre (LCC) is the centre within the HR department that brings together expertise in recruitment, learning and development, and mobility. EUR believes in the importance of investing in the growth of sustainably deployable employees who are prepared for internal and external changes – now and in the future.

The EUR recruitment team is committed to ensuring a pleasant, inclusive and rapid selection process for all internal stakeholders and all candidates. The team supported the filling of more than 100 vacancies. An applicant tracking system is now used across EUR, automating a lot of administrative work and providing more structure for selection committees. Employer Branding focuses on the stories of our employees in various videos and testimonials.

A new development cycle was drawn up in close cooperation with Recognition and Rewards and the Leadership Development project team. Preparations were made in 2023 for the phased implementation of this new cycle in 2024. 

The new development cycle replaces the current Performance & Development (P&D) cycle. The new development cycle uses a qualitative description, also referred to as a narrative, in which numerical assessment has been dropped. Guidelines have been developed in collaboration with Recognition and Rewards for quality narrative writing. The aim is to encourage, in an accessible and structural way, a common focus among managers and employees on growth, development, well-being and qualities. 

The LCC organises training courses and career events every year to encourage growth and development. Career Week is an annual event that offers workshops, training sessions and activities dedicated to career development. Last year, the programme consisted of 27 activities, such as career coaching, the big generation show and various workshops such as Build Your Career with Lego Serious Play and Boxing Coaching. Career Week attracted 729 visitors and included a career day for PhD students: the PhD Career Day. The annual Share Your Knowledge Week also took place last year, in which colleagues held short informal workshops for each other, sharing their knowledge and experience. During Share Your Knowledge Week, 43 different workshops were held for 538 participants. 

The Training and Development Platform (TOP) organised forty training sessions, ranging from career training to leadership programmes. These training sessions were attended by a total of 368 participants. In addition, TOP offered the online courses provided by GoodHabitz. Colleagues participated in more than 500 training courses, earning 143 certificates. The top three courses to which the most study time was dedicated were Excel, Lean and Information Security training courses. 

TOP offers advice and support for customised requests and projects involving learning and development. This resulted in the co-creation of some 20 customised programmes. Learning paths have also been developed, such as the Social Safety learning path and career development learning path for PhDs students. 

Career guidance

Many employees enlisted the guidance of HR career professionals. They did so in order to make the next step in their career, to obtain greater clarity on professional choices or to receive assistance with personal growth and development. Both academic staff and Professional Services Staff (PSS) used the services of the career coaches, with the share of PSS rising sharply at 43%. 

EUR's career guidance aims to contribute to sustainable employability and keep employees fit for the future. This allows them to perform their roles with job satisfaction, engagement and vitality. Part of this is making sure that the right person is in the right place and preventing unnecessary absenteeism or early departures as much as possible. 

Job2Job

In the event of unemployment through no fault of the employee, EUR offers support in finding other work. In this case, EUR is also responsible for the unemployment counselling process. EUR uses the Job2Job Case Manager to manage the counselling process. 

EUR is own-risk bearer for the purpose of the Unemployment Insurance Act (WW) and the Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (WIA). This means that although the benefit is received by the current or former employee from the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), it is ultimately paid by EUR. The expiry (and size) of the benefits are taken into account in the periodic HR assessment cycle (in the event of dismissal) and also form part of the financial accounts. 

Development cycle

A new development cycle was drawn up in close cooperation with Recognition and Rewards and the Leadership Development project team. Preparations were made in 2023 for the phased implementation of this new cycle in 2024. 

The new development cycle replaces the current Performance & Development (P&D) cycle. The new development cycle uses a qualitative description, also referred to as a narrative, in which numerical assessment has been dropped. Guidelines have been developed in collaboration with Recognition and Rewards for quality narrative writing. The aim is to encourage, in an accessible and structural way, a common focus among managers and employees on growth, development, well-being and qualities. 

LDE traineeship 

The tenth intake of participants started the LDE traineeship. This joint trainee programme run by Leiden University, TU Delft and EUR was launched in 2014 and is designed for entry-level professionals who have completed a master programme. Each trainee carries out two one-year assignments with a faculty or support service. During these two years, the trainee will also be challenged to develop professionally and personally through a training programme. The programme was developed in 

Staff wellbeing

The E&E scan shows that employees perceived the workload as negative (5.5) and work-life balance as moderately satisfactory (6.2). Academic staff and managers scored significantly lower on workload (4.9 and 4.7 respectively) compared to other respondents. However, low scores on workload and work-life balance did not have a negative impact on employees' engagement and job satisfaction. 

By contrast, both topics remain an issue in relation to employee well-being. A wide range of forms of mental support were available again last year. For example, all employees were able to schedule online consultations with a qualified psychologist. Preventive support from the occupational physicians and staff welfare was also available to all employees free of charge. 

Employees were able to sign up to Erasmus Sport at a reduced rate to promote their physical and mental well-being. In addition, seven vegan cooking workshops were organised at the Erasmus Food Lab in collaboration with Erasmus Sport. 

HR publishes monthly newsletters for all employees. Among other things, the newsletters provide information on the available support in relation to employee well-being. The Health and Safety at Work page on MyEUR was visited more than 17,500 times. The pages containing information on flu vaccination and procedures related to absenteeism were the most viewed. 

Social safety

Social safety is a basic prerequisite to be able to work, learn, make a contribution and develop. The pursuit of academic knowledge requires a culture with a free exchange of ideas. 

The results of the employee survey indicated that 16% (n = 250) of employees sometimes or often experienced undesirable behaviour in the workplace and 26% did not know where to turn if they encountered a socially unsafe situation. The past few years have seen intensive efforts to create a broad network of support officers for both students and staff. Regulations have been drawn up, such as the undesirable behaviour complaints procedure, and measures have been taken to make it easy for students, staff and visitors alike to report incidents. The results of the 2023 employee survey show that this commitment needs to continue, primarily to further improve awareness and accessibility of the developed offering. 

Social Safety Handbook

In 2023, work started on the drafting of an EUR Social Safety Handbook. This handbook provides tools for managers, advisors, policymakers and directors to work on social safety within each organisational unit. It was initiated by the HR department of Health, Safety & Well-being and produced in collaboration with the Education & Student Affairs (E&S) department. The handbook also contains additions from the IDEA Center and Integrated Security teams. This integrated approach was chosen because social safety has an impact on everyone regardless of role and position. For example, measures aimed at influencing staff behaviour can directly affect students' perceived social safety, and vice versa. The handbook contains information on EUR's vision for social safety, current support and policy offerings based on three factors (the organisation's structures, workplace culture and the reporting and steering system), as well as recommendations for the deployment of current and additional offerings. 

Ombudsperson

Wico Verbaan became the new ombudsperson on 1 January 2023. Both students and employees can contact the ombudsperson about integrity issues related to studying or working at EUR. The ombudsperson offers support in the event of questions, dilemmas or conflicts in the workplace or within a programme. This support can take various forms, such as an in-depth interview, counselling, referral to and coordination with internal or external officials, mediation or setting up an independent investigation. 

Safe@EUR

Safe@EUR has been launched: a EUR-wide reporting and information centre where students, employees and visitors can make reports and ask questions about concerning and undesirable behaviour. This initiative stems from a collaboration between HR, E&S, the IDEA Center and the Integrated Security Team. Safe@EUR is an accessible referral point for people who need help, to ensure that they receive faster and more effective support from the most appropriate responsible person or expert. Records are kept and trend analyses are performed to identify warning signs of unsafe situations within the organisation faster, so that EUR can take appropriate action. 

Mindlab

The theatre performance Mindlab was staged 14 times at the Erasmus Pavilion. The aim was to encourage a dialogue among colleagues about what constitutes a pleasant and socially safe working environment and how we can achieve this together. An environment in which every employee comes into their own and is recognised and rewarded, and in which social and research integrity are paramount. The performance centred around questions such as: how do we perform research? How do we deliver education? How do we lead? And how do we provide good support in the process? The Mindlab was a great opportunity to look individually and as a team at the results of the employee survey. Immediately after each performance, employees had the chance to discuss the issues raised in private team sessions if desired and under the guidance of a moderator. Around 1,200 employees from almost all EUR faculties and departments attended Mindlab. 

Absenteeism

The overall absenteeism rate and reporting rate increased over the past year. This is due to increasing pressure on the labour market, the after-effects of COVID-19 and social crises. Compared to the national average, the increase at EUR is small.

Due to expiring contracts and the professionalisation of services related to absenteeism, 2023 was a year of many tenders: case management of own-risk bearer status under the Sickness Benefits Act (ERD ZW), own-risk bearer status under the Return to Work (Partially Disabled Persons) Regulations (ERD WGA) and a new health and safety service. 

Equivalence will take over the implementation of the ERD ZW from 1 January 2024. This organisation supports EUR in meeting its legal obligations. For the ERD WGA, the decision was taken to no longer insure the risk from 1 January 2024, but to take the implementation in-house with support from Robidus. The health and safety service provider Salude, which submitted a successful tender in 2023, will start operations on 1 March 2024. 

Occupational Health and Safety and RI&E

As a follow-up to the 2022 Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E) Master Plan, an overarching RI&E was conducted on health and safety policy topics. The acquired RI&E system was also brought into use, in which the prevention officers identify operational and site-specific risks. 

Prevention officer network

The professionalisation process continued, following earlier training and guidance, with the introduction of the decentralised prevention officer network. This was done by drafting a prevention officer agreement setting out the duties and responsibilities of both the prevention officer and the administrator.

IDEA stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access and encompasses an integral and holistic approach to employee inclusion at EUR. It focuses on both individual and systemic aspects to promote, through policy advice, activities and events, a culture and environment in which people feel at home and can authentically express all facets of their identity. A link to IDEA's own annual report can be found here. 

Supporting employee networks

The IDEA Center actively supports a number of EUR employee networks. These include FAME (Females in Academia Moving towards Equity) and QuEUR for LGBTQIA+ employees and their allies. In 2023, FAME organised a meeting to discuss community needs and coordinated the FAME Athena Award. The recipient was Maria Carmen Punzi, PhD student at RSM, for her contribution to encouraging a dialogue about menstrual health. 

QuEUR has grown into a large community and has organised four events, in some cases with other parties. The themes were both social and substantive, for example on tackling microaggressions. The network helped set up the LDE (Leiden-Delft-Erasmus) Pride network, which was launched on 30 August during Leiden Pride week. LDE Pride organised its first event on 14 November at Erasmus MC to discuss LGBTQIA+ activities and whether they contribute to inclusion or pose a threat to neutrality. 

EUR has an employee contact group called Young@EUR, which offers employees up to the age of 36 from both academic and professional services the opportunity to develop their skills, broaden their knowledge and meet colleagues. In 2023, one to two meetings were organised each month on professional and personal development, community social activities and EUR awareness. 

Sharing knowledge and providing advice in internal and external networks

IDEA was involved in many major projects and provided input and advice on inclusion in relation to the Recognition and Rewards leadership programme, social safety, PhD policy and recruitment and selection. 

Knowledge sharing also took shape through training sessions, workshops and lectures for students, academics and staff in professional services. 

Externally, EUR contributed IDEA knowledge through panels and external presentations both inside and outside the Netherlands. It did so by taking part in events such as a LANDO meeting, as a speaker and panellist at the LNVH spring symposium, with a session during the IDEA Knowledge Week and various other presentations. 

Book launch

In October, the IDEA Center presented the book Van woorden naar daden - een gids voor een inclusieve organisatie (From words to deeds - a guide for an inclusive organisation). The launch was part of the EUR's official anniversary programme. With the book, the authors, also team members of the IDEA Center, aim to inspire employers, employees and organisations to create a diverse and welcoming workplace. The book offers clear practical guidance on designing, implementing and evaluating interventions and making policies on inclusion, diversity, equality and access.

International knowledge week

The IDEA Center held an international knowledge week on inclusion, diversity, equality and access at our university in May. A total of 175 people from 12 different countries took part. There were six plenary sessions and 20 parallel sessions focusing on an integrated approach that can help transform an organisation into a more diverse, fair, inclusive, accessible and ultimately more enjoyable workplace for all. 

Throughout the week, several national and international speakers, including Alfred Herrera (University of California, Los Angeles) and Prof. Eveline Crone (EUR), together with students and participants, shared practical insights and knowledge on topics such as outreach, student engagement, inclusive education, inclusive HR, inclusive communication and monitoring and research. 

A theatre performance was also presented during the week: Conventions & Interventions #SocialSafety. The Actors' Society enacted scenes about discrimination, undesirable behaviour by a manager and experiences of new students at universities. After the scenes, moderator Dr Vidhi Chaudhri spoke to the audience about social safety, conventions and possible interventions. 

Beyond 25/25

EUR strives for equal opportunities for all its employees. Internal statistics and cultural barometer results show that there is more diversity in terms of gender and migration background in lower academic positions, but this decreases with each subsequent step in the hierarchy. EUR launched the second round of the (Beyond) 25/25 policy measure, in which 63 associate professors from The Hague and Woudestein campuses are taking part. In addition to the kick-off meeting on creating safe and brave spaces, EUR organised workshops on mentoring and discovering the common thread in the academic story. Participants chose a mentor who they will work with for the duration of the measure. EUR gathered faculty criteria for promotion, necessary for the independent committee to provide confidential feedback on participants' portfolios. 

A better gender balance among professors

EUR has been actively working for years to improve the balance between male and female professors. The original goal of at least 25% female professors has been achieved. All faculties have agreed to the new, faculty-specific targets for gender diversity. The feasibility of these targets has been discussed with all deans and is based on calculations of the current workforce and predicted outflow due to retirement. EUR is committed to achieving the goal of at least 35% female professors by 2025. By the end of 2023, this figure stood at 27.2%. 

Occupational Disability (Employment Targets and Quotas) Act

The Occupational Disability (Employment Targets and Quotas) Act was introduced in 2015. The aim is to help as many people with occupational disabilities as possible find work with regular employers. EUR had a quota of 120.9 jobs (of 25.5 hours each) by 2023. A concerted effort has been made to meet the target based on a realistic growth path and to employ people with occupational disabilities within the capabilities of faculties or departments. 

A total of 73 jobs were ultimately filled by people from the target group under the Act. This is 60.38% of the target. So although the target was not met, EUR is positive about the inflow: 11 new jobs were added compared to 2022. Similar to previous years, the focus was on individual placements within the organisational units, in coordination with the cooperation partners who put forward and coach the candidates. A number of departments and faculties now have several years of experience in hiring candidates with occupational disabilities. These positive and sustainable placements provide inspiration for the organisational units that are still lagging behind. Other activities to achieve the target focused on informing, advising and encouraging faculties and departments. This led to new job opportunities precisely in those faculties that seemed to be struggling the most to achieve the target. In collaboration with procurement, further progress was also made in social return: an approach to encourage labour participation in individuals such as the target group under the Act by including social conditions in tenders or procurement contracts. Finally, specific steps have been taken in partnership with the municipality of Rotterdam to nominate and allow status holders to start. These individuals join through the practical route.

Training

As in 2022, I am Harrie training was offered again in 2023 to support supervisors and managers of employees with occupational disabilities. The training provides theories, practical examples and tools to effectively support new and existing employees under the Occupational Disability (Employment Targets and Quotas) Act. A total of 61 certificates have now been awarded and these colleagues are not only supervisors, but also ambassadors for the Act within EUR.

International employees

To maintain its high quality of education and research, EUR focuses on attracting academic talent worldwide. This is a trend that continued in 2023. 

The successful renewal of the European Commission's HR Excellence in Research Award confirms EUR's attractiveness as an employer. A central focus remains the support of international staff, including those who work from abroad on a permanent basis. 

The year 2023 saw a major development in the field of international staff in the form of the Balanced Internationalisation Act, which aims to reduce the number of international students in the Netherlands. The final form of this Act and its implementation at EUR may have implications for both the current international staff and EUR's attractiveness as an employer for new international talent. The exact impact will become clear in 2024.

Number of international employees

The number of international employees grew in line with previous years from 825 to 923. Of the total number of employed staff, 26% are of non-Dutch nationality, excluding student assistants.

The number of international employees is particularly high among PhD students (53%) and academic staff (36%). The percentage of international staff differs significantly from faculty to faculty. This is shown in the table below on the proportion of international academic staff to total academic staff by faculty.

Soft landing and warm welcome

In 2023, there was a strong focus on facilitating a comfortable start for international staff. In addition to online information and email support, the onboarding programme was permanently extended to include a day aimed at international staff. During the year, 24 activities were organised, ranging from information sessions on taxes, pensions and pay slips to social activities. 

An essential part of feeling at home in another country is understanding the language. EUR actively encourages international staff to learn the Dutch language. In addition to courses at the EUR Language & Training Centre, the university organises Dutch Conversation Sessions. This accessible initiative, whose four 10-week cycles have been well attended, offers international staff members the chance to actively practise Dutch speaking skills. 

Working from abroad

Thanks to the COVID pandemic and digitalisation, more and more people are working from home. When employees work from abroad, however, there can be significant implications in terms of social security, labour law and tax law. Support for these complex processes has been further professionalised. EUR currently supports 75 cross-border workers living across four countries.

A great deal of effort went into reviewing the sustainable mobility policy in 2023. Proposals have been made to raise awareness for sustainable mobility in the short term to help further reduce CO2 emissions. 

Because the mobility policy is comprehensive, the first step was to look at adjustments to existing schemes and what was possible in the short term. The basic principles were gradual change and a focus on incentives.

 Parking rates

Extensive discussions have taken place on parking rates. To change travel behaviour, the parking rate would have to increase significantly, but EUR also wants employees to like coming to campus. Not everyone lives within cycling distance or has the ability to travel by public transport. A number of factors were taken into account in the decision made, such as inclusion, engagement, collaboration, awareness of transport types and parking costs. The parking rate for employees was raised to € 3 per day and free parking days were abolished. 

Employee benefits

More sustainable options have been made more attractive by extending bicycle and public transport schemes. The bicycle scheme offers a more generous allowance for folding bikes, for example, and employees on temporary contracts can now also benefit directly from the bicycle scheme. Previously, this was only possible after one year. Within the public transport scheme, the € 250 per month maximum for travel using an NS Business Card has been abolished and OV public bicycles can now be used for business travel.

The Campus in Development (Campus in Ontwikkeling, CiO) investment programme started in 2010 and has led to three officially adopted elaboration stages. An exploratory study on the fourth phase of CiO was submitted to the Executive Board in early 2023. Alongside the recently completed new Langeveld Building and Sports Building, and with the prospect of the Tinbergen renovation, the decision was taken to opt for more efficient use of existing facilities rather than additional new construction. This scenario was further explored, including a pilot project at the ESE faculty aimed at an innovative concept for the office environment. The starting point is a shared workplace. Most of the necessary changes were made in 2023, allowing the pilot to start in early 2024. The experience gained will be taken into account in the final design of Tinbergen.

Future campus

With Tomorrow’s Campus, the RE&F department continued to work on the strategic accommodation policy that sets out both a quantitative and qualitative framework for the medium and long term. The developments around Culture&Campus (for which a pilot project is being initiated on Putselaan) and ISS' accommodation on Kortenaerkade in The Hague will be taken into consideration. An initial exploratory study was submitted to the Executive Board in late 2023. In 2024, this study will form the basis for a reassessment of the long-term financial frameworks for accommodation and facilities services provided by RE&F on behalf of EUR. 

Student housing

The division of roles between EUR and the municipality of Rotterdam in the development of the Student Housing site on Abram van Rijckevoorselweg has been reviewed. The municipality is taking the lead in site development and selecting a party to carry out the programme. This role is in line with the municipality's expertise in, and experience with, such processes.3 The ambition is to start to carry out the programme in the fourth quarter of 2025. An agreement will be drawn up setting out the arrangements between EUR and the municipality. 

Design of the perimeter road

The perimeter road involves three landowners: EUR, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (HRO) and the municipality of Rotterdam. The municipality is transferring its land ownership for the perimeter road to EUR for no consideration, which will simplify the arrangements. Management and maintenance of the perimeter road will become the responsibility of EUR. The preparations for the phased realisation have been worked out so that the tender can take place in 2024. 

Campus accessibility

An action plan to improve the physical accessibility of the campus was adopted in mid 2022. This forms part of an overall action plan that will be executed under the supervision of Education & Student Services (E&S). To this end, several awareness-raising sessions were organised to create a better understanding among Real Estate & Facilities (RE&F) departments and colleagues from other departments of the constraints people may experience on campus. In 2023, work began on solving current issues and an implementation plan for the physical accessibility of the Campus was adopted within RE&F. The adoption of this plan also includes the guidelines and basic principles for physical accessibility within RE&F. This will provide quality assurance within the RE&F department, improving the accessibility of future buildings and site modifications.

EUR's Procurement and Contract Management Department collaborated with other purchasing organisations where appropriate and possible in the context of efficiency and effectiveness. For example, EUR is a member of SURF: a cooperative association of Dutch education and research institutions that jointly procure or develop digital services. They also share knowledge to ensure continuous innovation. EUR participated in several tenders organised by SURF. 

EUR is also involved in the University Procurement Platform (Universitair Platform Inkoop, UPI). The UPI is a means of sharing knowledge and experiences within the participating universities. EUR's head of Procurement and Contract Management chaired the UPI in 2023. 

Whenever possible, tenders are also carried out jointly in order to benefit from each other's knowledge and expertise and to carry out the tender efficiently. EUR participated in one tender within the UPI. 

Sustainable procurement

EUR's strategy is centred around having a positive impact on society. Part of this positive impact is creating a sustainable world. This is therefore also part of EUR's sustainability programme. One of the initiatives is Sustainable Procurement, which covers the procurement and tendering of EUR supplies, services and works. 

For the purpose of Sustainable Procurement, EUR is focusing on six themes in line with the central government's petal model in its manifesto on Socially Responsible Commissioning and Procurement (Maatschappelik Verantwoord Opdrachtgeven en Inkopen, MVOI). The six themes are: climate, circular, chain responsibility, diversity and inclusion, social return, and environment and biodiversity. The themes align with EUR's strategy and are linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

The six themes have been translated into an ambition web. In 2023, ambition sessions were organised for several tenders within EUR, in which the Procurement and Contract Management Department supported the procurement team in addressing Sustainable Procurement and identifying opportunities in this area. In these ambition sessions, the ambition web is drawn up for each tender to indicate the prioritisation between the six themes, including targets for each theme. These targets provide direction in a tender to an ambition within the relevant theme.

There is an ongoing focus on reducing EUR's environmental footprint, both through specific measures and in consultation with campus users. At the end of 2022, the decision was taken to lower the temperature in all EUR buildings to 19 degrees. The reporting year saw a restriction on the opening hours of on-campus facilities. These measures have a direct and significant impact on energy consumption. Further analyses of this impact and evaluations of the deployment of these measures will take place in 2024. 

In several sustainability dialogues, staff from departments and faculties were asked to contribute ideas on how to improve sustainability on campus.

Built environment

The Executive Board adopted the Buildings Energy Transition Portfolio Roadmap (PEG) in 2022. Around € 20 million was released to take additional measures to improve insulation in the existing building stock and to facilitate smarter energy management. This programme included LED lighting in Bayle and the connection of Bayle to a geothermal heat pump (GHP). 

Adjusting and connecting the GHP sources to the systems of Theil, Sports and Langeveld required a lot of attention due to the complicated installation, measurement and control technology. This process will be completed in 2024 and the use of GHPs is expected to have a positive impact on the energy consumption of the buildings concerned. 

The Langeveld Building has been awarded a BREEAM Outstanding certificate. The European Tender for the renovation of Tinbergen has been launched, which will also seek BREEAM Outstanding accreditation. 

Energy supply

In collaboration with a consortium (which includes Erasmus MC, Leiden University and LUMC), the European Tender for energy supply was completed and EUR’s new supplier (AXPO) was successfully onboarded. EUR is once again purchasing green energy under the new energy contract. 

Waste management

A pilot project has been carried out in the Langeveld Building in which waste stream measurements can also be used to make recycling manageable. The ambition is to achieve zero waste. 

Food and catering

As part of the goal of making the food on campus completely vegan by 2030, a successful pilot to encourage the use of

of vegan meals was carried out from September to December in collaboration with VITAM. The experience gained in this pilot will be taken into account in developing a 2030 Vegan Campus roadmap in 2024. 

Green Campus

An inspirational biodiversity toolkit was delivered in 2023. This toolkit was used during the renovation of the pond, including a biodiversity-encouraging design for the bank and pond-dwelling planting and the area around the pond. The toolkit was also used to further refine the final design for the layout of the southern part of the campus. The phased implementation will start in mid-2024.

The EUR community, besides being a physical community, is of course also a digital community. Study, research, operational management and collaboration have become almost inconceivable without support from digital resources. Reliable, secure and always accessible information is therefore essential to the functioning of EUR. 

The digital world is continuously evolving and developing. Innovations in education and research also require new ways of accessing and handling data. There is a constant stream of new ICT technology on the market that needs to be transposed to EUR’s ICT landscape. The desire to quickly be allowed and able to use state-of-the-art technology, along with the drive from the research community towards open data and open science, is often frustrated by the increase in cyber threats and cybercrime. EDIS is responsible for working with the faculties and the other departments to achieve a good balance in this regard. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The rate of developments in the market for IT solutions is fast and expectations from the EUR users’ organisation are keeping pace. For instance, the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022 suddenly turned the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into a hot topic. Many within EUR are eager to start using it. However, from a data security perspective, mass use by EUR employees of the various free versions of Large Language Models made available to the public is undesirable. After all, there is no such thing as free software and solutions: there is usually a fee in the form of data. Subscription versions also offer insufficient data security and ownership. A pilot was therefore launched with a version of ChatGPT set up by the supplier specifically for EUR. Experience will be gained with this version in 2024, first within education and then also within research and operational management. 

Security

The threat of major cyber incidents within Dutch education and research is increasing year on year. EUR is therefore scaling up security measures to increase the resilience of our organisation. In 2023, this resulted in the successfully implemented Erasmus Maturity Level 3 (Erasmus Volwassenheidsniveau 3, EV3) programme. Using the SURF Audit Assessment Framework, it was assessed whether central and decentralised control processes in the field of information services and for ten core systems meet the requirement for maturity level 3: “Control measures are documented and implemented in a structured and formal manner. Implementation of the measures is demonstrable, tested and effective”. With an average score of 3.1 on a scale of 5, EUR is one of the best-performing universities. In 2024, the programme will continue in the form of EV'24 with the aim of consolidating and broadening. 

Education

Digitalisation and its continued development can no longer be ignored as key elements in education. In 2023, EDIS worked with E&S and the faculties on several programmes to make students' lives significantly easier. 

Erasmus without Paper

Erasmus+ is the EU programme to support education and training in Europe, among other things. The programme aims to promote closer collaboration between universities and higher education institutions across Europe. Supporting student mobility in the context of Erasmus+ is a cumbersome and complex process for higher education institutions. Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) makes this process much more efficient by allowing quick and secure exchange of information on student mobility. The online exchange network eliminates the need to exchange paper documents. EUR is connected to this European network. Contracts with universities in other countries, student learning agreements: everything happens automatically. EUR is ready for the next step, partner institutions unfortunately not yet. 

EduXchange

Since last year, the range of minors offered by Leiden University, TU Delft and EUR has been brought together on eduXchange.nl. One of the objectives is for it to be easy for students to take a minor at one of the member universities. As well as bringing together the offerings, the enrolment process for the minors has also been harmonised. Students use their eduID for this purpose. Students now only need to enrol through one institution to be automatically enrolled at the other institutions.

Research

Big Data, Open Science and Fair Science have major implications for research practice. They also place new and higher demands on digital support for the research community. EDIS is providing the technical capabilities in this transformation process, working closely with Erasmus Research Services and the University Library. 

The necessary preparations were made in 2023 to establish an EUR Digital Competence Centre (EUR DCC) together with these services in 2024. The DCC will integrate and harmonise existing services as a basis for the necessary further development of services to the EUR research community. With this goal in mind, EDIS contributed to a number of projects in 2023 including:

• EUR's Research Data Management programme.
• The Yoda project, in which an adequate and FAIR pilot data management and publishing environment was created in collaboration with SURF and ten sister institutions.
• The Up-to-Standard project, which detailed the organisational conditions for the aforementioned integration and harmonisation of digital services for researchers. It is the basis for the EUR DCC in formation.
• The system acquisition for the Project Portfolio Management project, which, amongst other things, aims to facilitate improved support for externally financed research programmes.
• The adoption of an action strategy on Virtual Research Environments (VRE) for EUR researchers and research groups. 

Operational management and generic IT

EUR's cloud policy was adopted in 2023. EUR aims to have all its applications and data storage housed in the public cloud based on standards and technology that are in line with the market by 2027. This will offer the following benefits:

• reduce security risks through standardisation (market conformity);
• increase agility;
• increase scalability;
• better cost control in line with activities;
• better integration with partners;
• sustainability gains through lower energy and resource consumption. 

Implementation began in 2023. Three quarters of faculties and services have migrated to the EUR Sharepoint environment for their regular active data storage^[1]. This migration will be completed in 2024. The passive data has been transferred to EUR's public cloud and the backup facility has also been migrated there. EUR's exam environment and remote desktop solution have been transferred to a modern Azure Virtual Desktop-based environment. 

I-governance and collaboration

In 2023, major steps were taken to further deepen collaboration with faculties and departments. Following previous steps in 2022, the project portfolio process has undergone structural improvements. Almost all information manager vacancies in faculties and departments have also been filled, which will help with the further development and implementation of EUR's I-Strategy. 

Agile working was also defined in greater detail. More and more processes and systems are supported in close collaboration with the business by Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs). These teams include business representatives alongside EDIS staff to review and prioritise requirements on the team's backlog. The quarterly Big-Room consultations were started together with the information managers. These meetings look ahead for a period of three to six months each time to see what changes need to be supported in terms of digitalisation. This process places the business increasingly and more effectively in control. 

Policy and frameworks

In addition to the aforementioned cloud policy, other policies adopted include the Documentary Information Administration Policy, the Business Continuity Management Policy and the Privacy Policy. These policy documents will be further translated into action plans from 2024. 

^[1] In addition to regular data storage, EUR also has dedicated data storage for research data.