The two decided to merge in 2003. The goal was to provide education together and to improve student advancement and success rates. But after an evaluation last year, the collaboration turned out to not have any actual benefits. The university has been in the bottom half of the rankings for years. Reason enough for the institutions to request the split.
Students and staff at the HvA agreed to the separation in December. The UvA’s co-determination board agreed last Friday. The Supervisory Board recently agreed as well, meaning the split could officially go ahead.
Although the institutes will move forward as separate entities, they will continue to work together in education, research, and joint services. The new boards of directors will now focus on ‘reinforcing [our] own profile and the separate institutions’ identities’, the UvA says.
‘With this decision, the university of applied sciences and the research university have taken an important step forward to a future where both can steer their own, powerful course while reinforcing each other in certain areas’, the university said in a press release.