Section 1 Report of the Supervisory Board

In this chapter, the Supervisory Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) provides an account of its supervision of the activities and the exercise of its powers in 2024. EUR applies the Code of Good Governance for Universities 2020. 

A reflection by the Supervisory Board on the reporting year is included at the end of this chapter.

Taking into account the nature of the university, its activities and the desired expertise, the Supervisory Board has drawn up a profile for its size and composition. This profile is public. For a further explanation, see www.eur.nl > about EUR > organis.... 

The Supervisory Board is composed in such a way that the members can operate independently and critically with respect to each other, the Executive Board and other stakeholders. The members of the Supervisory Board are appointed for a period of four years by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OC&W) and the Supervisory Board is accountable to this minister. 

The first term of office of Prof. Jaap Winter and Prof. Ellen Giebels expired on 30 May 2024. Both indicated their willingness to serve a second term, and their appointments were extended for four years from 1 June 2024 using the applicable procedure. 

On 30 May 2024, Laura van Geest stepped down as a member of the Supervisory Board and member of the Audit Committee after her first term of office.  The Supervisory Board thanks Van Geest for her commitment, and her valuable input to the Supervisory Board and Audit Committee based on her expertise and knowledge. As the successor to Van Geest, Angelique Berg was appointed as a member of the Supervisory Board from 1 June 2024, and also a member of the Audit Committee. 

The composition of the Supervisory Board in 2024 was as follows: 

• Prof. Jaap Winter – Chair of the Supervisory Board
• Prof. Ellen Giebels – Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board and Chair of the Quality Committee
• Dr Rahul Vas-Bhat – Member of the Supervisory Board and Chair of the Audit Committee
• Laura van Geest – Member of the Supervisory Board and member of the Audit Committee until 30 May 2024 
• Angelique Berg – Member of the Supervisory Board and member of the Audit Committee from 1 June 2024 
• Prof. Elmer Sterken – Member of the Supervisory Board and member of the Quality Committee

The Supervisory Board has an Audit Committee and a Quality Committee. 

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee focuses on EUR’s financial policy (including its internal control and risk management) and operational management. The external auditor periodically reported his findings in the Audit Committee. 

The Audit Committee met four times in 2024. During these meetings it provided advice on many topics, including: 

• EUR Long-term budget 2024–2027
• EUR Annual Financial Statements 2023 and the Auditor’s Management Letter
• Erasmus Perspectives 2024–2027 (the framework memorandum)
• regular EUR financial reports
• Enrolment figures from the October 1^st student count and the impact on funding
• Regular reporting on the impact of the spending cuts announced by the government and the consequences of the Balanced Internationalisation Act
• EUR Business Continuity Management Audit Charter and Audit Plan
• Audit & Review Agenda and regular updates on internal and external audit results in 2024
• The half-yearly financial report Campus in Development (for the purposes of the Real Estate Strategy) Implementation of the EUR Procurement Policy
• Preparations for the new operational management system
• IT (Information security plan, risk detection, cyber security)
• Progress on the registration of ancillary positions of professors and other staff
• The internal allocation of money from direct funding
• The potential consequences of the tightening of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, OC&W)
• Policy Rule on‘Investing public funds in private activities’
• Progress on Integrated Safety and Knowledge Security (procedure)

Quality Committee

The Quality Committee focuses on the quality of education and research, and on safeguarding and boosting this quality within EUR and in collaborations. The Quality Committee met four times in 2024. The topics discussed at these meetings included:

• Quality assurance and the Institutional Quality Assurance Review;
• Smarter Academic Year;
• Internationalisation;
• Recognition and Rewards;
• Binding Study Advice;
• Lecturer Development;
• EUR Research Vision;
• Administrative Agreement;
• Concluding the Quality Agreements;
• Ethical reviews of student research PhD survey;
• National Student Survey;
• Insights into enrolment, progression and graduation figures, BA-4 achievement rates and switching data;
• Appointments of professors.

In 2024, the Supervisory Board, in its capacity as employer of the Executive Board, held evaluation meetings on cooperation with the Executive Board as a whole and with individual Executive Board members. The Supervisory Board has strictly complied with the Senior Executives in the Public and Semi-Public Sector (Standards for Remuneration) Act (Wet Normering Topinkomens, WNT) in relation to the remuneration of Executive Board members. This also applied to the remuneration of members of the Supervisory Board. In 2024, the Supervisory Board organised and completed three vacancy procedures for the Executive Board;

• On 31 August 2024, the former President of the Executive Board, Prof. Ed Brinksma, left after his term expired. Upon his departure, Brinksma received great appreciation from the Supervisory Board for the major role he played at EUR, especially in strategic development and collaboration, and for leading the university through the complicated Covid period. On 1 September 2024, former EUR Rector Magnificus Prof. Annelien Bredenoord succeeded him as President of the Executive Board. 
• On 1 November 2024, Prof. Jantine Schuit took up the role of Rector Magnificus.
• The first term of the third member of the Executive Board, Vice-President Dr Ellen van Schoten, RA, expired on 1 January 2025. Van Schoten was reappointed by the Supervisory Board for a second term. 

As part of its duties, the Supervisory Board oversaw the lawful acquisition and efficient and lawful spending of funds, and the design of the quality assurance system. The Supervisory Board had four regular meetings with the Executive Board in 2024 and twice held a joint strategy session. The Supervisory Board ensured that a range of topics was discussed with the Executive Board at the meetings throughout the year, as a result of which a comprehensive view was gained of the organisation. In their joint meetings in 2024, the Supervisory Board and Executive Board approved a number of documents in accordance with the Supervisory Board’s statutory powers, including the following:

• 2023 Annual Report and Financial Statements; 
• EUR Budget 2025–2029;
• EUR Administration and Management Regulations (Bestuurs- en Beheerreglement, BBR) 2025. 

In addition to its statutory duties, the Supervisory Board discussed a range of topics with the Executive Board, including:

• The development of the new EUR Strategy 2030;
• Impact@EUR, shaping our contribution to society by creating a societal impact;
• Progress on the registration of ancillary positions by professors and other staff; 
• Collaboration within alliances and with external parties and the social role of EUR;
• The possible consequences of the Balanced Internationalisation Act announced by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; 
• The protests and occupations on the EUR campus in response to the geopolitical situation;
• Social safety: social trends and EUR’s approach;
• Integrated Safety and the associated governance, including regular updates regarding the situation on campus triggered by social movements and conflicts;
• Knowledge security: awareness, policy and action plan with a timeline for reporting to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science;
• Tomorrow’s Campus: the future vision for real estate and campus use, including progress on the renovation of the Tinbergen Building and a number of scenarios for the future-proof use of buildings;
• The institutional accreditation process;
• Programme plan: Strengthening Quality Assurance EUR 2024–2027.

The Supervisory Board made physical visits to faculties as scheduled. During each visit, the Supervisory Board spent a great deal of time discussing current issues affecting the faculty in question, as well as looking ahead to the future and the associated focus areas. Common strategic themes were discussed at a joint strategy session attended by the Supervisory Board, the deans and the Executive Board in the spring of 2024. EUR’s strategic alliances were among the topics discussed. The Chair of the Supervisory Board also held one-to-one talks with the deans. In 2024, several meetings took place between the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of EUR and the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences/Erasmus MC. During the consultative meetings, a number of common topics were discussed, such as the wellbeing and social safety of staff and students, the various construction projects at campus Woudestein and the campus of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences/Erasmus MC, and the desired percentage of female professors in the context of diversity and inclusion goals.

During the reporting year, the Supervisory Board met twice with the Presidium of the University Council to discuss current affairs and shared concerns. The Supervisory Board found these discussions to be positive and constructive. Further to these talks, the Supervisory Board passed on a number of concerns to the Executive Board with a recommendation for further discussion.

In 2024, the Chairs of the Supervisory Boards of Dutch universities met twice in their national meeting. These meetings were held at EUR, and were chaired by the Chair of the EUR Supervisory Board. The topics discussed included the possible consequences of limiting the influx of international students into universities under the Balanced Internationalisation Act. Social safety in universities and the meticulous registration of the ancillary positions of professors and staff were also discussed at length.

EUR is a member of several strategic alliances. The EUR-TU Delft-Erasmus MC Convergence alliance was established in 2019 to provide an integrated approach to complex societal problems from different perspectives. The Supervisory Board was kept informed and involved by the Executive Board in a number of discussions about this collaborative alliance, of which the ultimate goal is to create societal impact, using the region as a ‘living lab’. The framework agreement, signed in 2021, also establishes agreements on operational management within the Convergence that are coordinated from the Convergence Office. For Convergence, a separate governance structure has been established, with a Convergence Executive Board and a Convergence Supervisory Board. The Chair of the Supervisory Board participates in the latter. 

EUR has partnered with Leiden University and TU Delft as part of the LDE cooperative arrangement. This collaboration centres around multidisciplinary education at the intersection of technology and society and is also regularly discussed at meetings between the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board.

In accordance with statutory provisions, the Supervisory Board monitors the quality and performance of individual members and of the Supervisory Board as a whole. An internal evaluation took place as usual during the reporting year. This included input from the Executive Board on collaboration. Developments in the levels of knowledge and skills of members, the role of the Supervisory Board and the additional powers of the Supervisory Board were discussed. The internal evaluation also included a dialogue with the Executive Board on further developing insights into important, forward-looking themes for EUR, based on current information collected from EUR, partnerships, society in general and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

 At the end of 2024, we look back on an eventful year. Because EUR is inextricably linked with society in all its projects and collaborations, the tensions and unrest in society are inevitably felt on EUR campuses. In a community that aims to add value to young people’s futures by providing impactful education, it is important that there is room for opposing views and opinions. We also saw that this sometimes leads to polarisation and rising tensions, for example in the protests against the war in Gaza. The geopolitical situation is also being felt in the area of academic research: there is increasing concern around how EUR can ensure the safe transfer of research data, especially in international collaborations where there is a possible risk of the undesirable use of knowledge. By extension, we are becoming increasingly aware that our collaboration partners do not always share the same ethical values as EUR, which raises the question of how we should deal with this issue.

Valuable discussions on these topics were part of the meetings with the Executive Board. Meanwhile, the situation has not become any easier. The American government’s unprecedented and inappropriate pressure on universities in the US also affects our community. Our Erasmian values can guide us in our interactions with these universities, and we encourage everyone in our community to respect these values. 

The situation within the EUR community also came up regularly, especially after the Netherlands Labour Authority warned EUR and several other universities about high staff workloads. There were discussions around the extent to which high workloads are affected by the bureaucratic burden, and how EUR can reduce this burden and restore job satisfaction. There was also a special focus by the Supervisory Board in 2024 on the social safety of staff and students at EUR and how to protect it, particularly given the turbulent social context. 

The announcement of governmental spending cuts on higher education triggered a period of financial uncertainty, which is unfortunately still ongoing. Combined with the Balanced Internationalisation Act, this means that difficult choices will have to be made by EUR and its faculties, institutes and central service units. In some cases, these choices will be painful and potentially damaging to the university’s strategic goals. The Supervisory Board discussed this issue in several strategic sessions with the Executive Board and the deans. During these discussions, they clarified the vision and mission and defined and prioritised the strategic objectives. 

The Supervisory Board notes that in 2024 the Executive Board was able to assume responsibility, maintain dialogue and make progress towards the strategic perspective of EUR as a socially engaged university on the basis of a balanced weighing up of interests. 

The Supervisory Board would like to express its appreciation for the collaboration with the EUR Executive Board, which enabled us to once again jointly set and monitor EUR’s strategic direction in 2024. We are well aware that the situation created by the spending cuts, social tensions and recent developments in the US is making things more difficult for everyone in our community. This only increases our appreciation for all the staff who continue to deliver excellent teaching and research and create the conditions for excellence. Together, inspired by our Erasmian values and with personal commitment from everyone involved, we will be able to handle these difficult developments. 

Supervisory Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam, 

Prof. Jaap Winter

Prof. Ellen Giebels 

Dr Rahul Vas-Bhat 

Prof. Elmer Sterken 

Drs. Angelique Berg