The RUG will present a new, adjusted Yantai plan in October, to the new Council, which takes office in September.
Last week, the Personnel faction and student party Lijst Calimero announced that they would be voting against the current plans. Together, they have a majority in the University Council.
The RUG is legally obligated to ask the University Council for their consent before tendering its programmes abroad. The Board of Directors has been trying to convince the students and staff on the Council of the benefits of a China campus for the past two years.
Foundation
‘This doesn’t mean the whole plan is off the table, there will be a new application’, Personnel faction chair Bart Beijer responds. Students and staff on the Council will have input on this new application. Beijer: ‘It’s not like we’re actually going to help write the new application. But we’ll have input on which issues we still want answers on, and which issues are currently still absent. But we will not become accomplices.’
Lijst Calimero is mainly worried about how education will be influenced. The student party also feels that a proper financial foundation, as well as a developed expansion plan, are lacking. On top of that, the student faction remains unconvinced that the RUG will be able to guarantee academic freedom at the Yantai campus.
‘Clearly, they have to come up with a much better application before we consent to this’, Lijst Calimero faction chair Daan van Dijk says. The party mainly wants to know more about the risks inherent to the plan, and a better explanation of the advantages the RUG has cited, such as the advantages for the state of education in Groningen and the positive effects on the international rankings. ‘The new application will be a great new opportunity’, according to Van Dijk.
Pieter Polhuis, at Lijst Sterk, is disappointed that the vote for the campus plans has been cancelled. ‘I’m in two minds about it. I would’ve liked to see everyone agree to the plans. However, the new application will be even better, which benefits the project.’
Little delay
RUG president Sibrand Poppema estimates he will need no more than a month to prepare a new application. ‘We think that if we work on it for the entire month of September, we’ll be able to come up with a proper new application’, he says.
According to Poppema, postponing the vote will lead to little delay in the end. ‘We know that the AMvB (the governmental decree that controls the legislative execution of the foreign campus, ed.) isn’t actually finished yet, so in that sense it has no effect on when the minister is expected to give us permission for the plans. It does affect China, however, because there’s a risk that certain things over there might be delayed. But we’ll just have to deal with that’, according to the RUG president.
The parties involved do not think that the new council will cause any further delay. The new Council members have been informed about the details of the Yantai plans.