The faculty council of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) has joined the criticism of the University of Groningen’s plans to merge certain faculties.
The council communicated this in a letter addressed to its own faculty board, the board of directors and Arthur Mol, the former rector of Wageningen University & Research, who is overseeing the process.
Mol has been commissioned by the UG to investigate a merger involving the smaller faculties of spatial sciences, philosophy, and religion, culture and society, with one of the larger faculties (law, arts, behavioural and social sciences, and economics and business).
Growing criticism
According to the board of directors, such a merger is necessary to make the university – which is perceived as cumbersome and ineffective – more manageable. However, in recent weeks, more and more criticism has emerged from various faculties, now including the science faculty.
FSE is not directly affected by the merger plans, the council writes in the letter. Still, it is concerned about how the process has unfolded so far. ‘The faculty councils involved were not included in the early stages of the process, and, in some cases, were not properly informed by their own faculty boards.’
‘Far too fast’
The draft advisory report from process supervisor Mol is expected any moment, with the final report scheduled for early July. That is far too fast for such an important decision, according to FSE’s faculty council.
Like other faculties, the council also questions whether a merger will actually result in better and faster decision-making. While the council understands that the board of directors would have fewer people at the negotiating table this way, it argues that this says little about how governable the faculties themselves are.
‘However, larger faculties are very complex, and may therefore be less flexible in itself. Being part of a large faculty ourselves, we often see examples of this issue. Forming fewer larger faculties just creates different problems.’