Transition Plan Update, Number 11 (20 October 2025) |
Dear colleague,
In the previous update, we informed you about the latest development phase of the undergraduate portfolio, which recently got underway. Further on in this update, you can read more about the various seminar groups and the information meetings we are organising for different groups. The ultimate goal is to develop an attractive, sustainable portfolio that everyone – lecturers, support staff, students – can work with effectively. But before we zoom in on the undergraduate portfolio, we would like to start with an overview of the current status of the entire Transition Plan. We will also address a question that is on the minds of many staff members: are we facing a reorganisation in the coming years?
Kind regards,
The Faculty Board |
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The Transition Plan: what is the current status?
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As we have already noted, we are facing a major financial challenge, and we must tackle this challenge at a time of uncertain prospects. This major financial challenge is forcing us to implement a hiring freeze that will last for several years. This is a sacrifice that will cause a great deal of pain within the faculty. Nevertheless, we must persevere in order to become financially healthy and maintain our financial autonomy. Of course, we have much less control over the uncertain outlook. Demographic developments, government policy, geopolitics – there are many uncertainties that could have major financial consequences for our faculty. This means that we, as the Faculty Board, must also prepare for possible additional, targeted measures if these influences turn out to have an unexpectedly negative impact.
We are aware that the transition within the faculty is causing uncertainty about the future of our education and research, about our students, about workloads, and also about our jobs. A question that many staff members are asking is whether we will have to restructure our organisation in the coming years and whether this will result in compulsory redundancies (reorganisation). Sometimes this question is asked aloud, sometimes not. The thought of a reorganisation and compulsory redundancies is appalling to all of us.
Nevertheless, as the Faculty Board, we believe it is important to address this issue and be honest about it. Let us be clear: we do not want to reorganise. That is why we answer the question “Can we prevent a reorganisation?” with conviction: Yes, as long as we achieve the substantive and financial goals of the Transition Plan, we will not reorganise. Achieving these goals will require a major joint effort on our part.
How can we achieve this?
One of the aims of the Transition Plan is to significantly reduce our workforce (and therefore our costs) in the period 2025-2028. To this end, we have imposed a hiring freeze: expiring contracts will not be renewed, and when employees retire, no replacement will be provided. At the same time, we are working on a new BA portfolio that we will be able to staff with the smaller academic staff from 2027 onwards. A lot will have to change in terms of content, and we will have to realise that change with the existing academic staff. It is great if we can avoid compulsory redundancies in this way, but it also means that many of us will have to do different things in education in the future. We will keep our jobs, but those jobs will change. We will not all be able to continue doing exactly the same things we were used to doing. Many employees will be asked to develop further and acquire new expertise or new working methods.
Based on the Transition Plan, we have made agreements with the Executive Board that assume we will achieve our goals without the need for reorganisation. The Executive Board is providing us with funding, and therefore time, to adapt our activities to the reduction in our staff numbers. Thanks to this support, we can implement our Transition Plan and will not need to start rebuilding our (mandatory) faculty reserves until 2028. If we do what we have agreed to do in the coming years, there will be no need for compulsory redundancies. As we said at the beginning, it is difficult to look beyond 2028 at this point: if we start building up reserves, we will in all likelihood still have to maintain measures such as a recruitment freeze. We now know what to expect until 2027, but what happens after that remains to be seen.
At present, in October 2025, we are well on track with the Transition Plan, both in terms of content and finances. That gives us confidence. To date, it looks as if we are on course to accomplish this enormous task and that we will therefore be able to avoid a reorganisation.
In the coming years, it will be crucial that we follow the Transition Plan closely, both in financial and substantive terms. We are confident that we, as a faculty, are capable of doing so. We have wonderful people, in education, in research, and in the support sections. Many of these people are still new to our institution. It is a blessing that we were able to appoint a large number of new assistant professors last year as part of the SSH Sector Plan, for example. This enormous injection will help us on our way forward.
What also helps us is that we are really well equipped within UU to collaborate across boundaries. Disciplined interdisciplinarity is much more than just a buzzword at this institution. This solid foundation also gives us, as the Faculty Board, a great deal of confidence that we can successfully implement the Transition Plan. |
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Bachelor's portfolio working groups
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Below is an update from the Directors of Education group currently working on phase 3 of the BA portfolio.
With this message, we, the members of the BA portfolio project group (also known as Project Group 1/PG1), would like to inform you about the next step (phase 3) in the transition of the BA portfolio. This phase runs from October to mid-February and follows on from phase 2, in which PG1 – with thanks to input and advice from various bodies within the faculty – outlined the contours of the new BA portfolio. Phase 3 is all about translating the vision and structure into concrete faculty frameworks. These frameworks should provide degree programmes with the necessary tools to successfully implement the various components of the new BA portfolio – professional skills learning trajectory, diversification of graduation formats, ‘verbindingspakket’ and introduction of a new contact hours model – in their own context.
In phase 3, we are therefore taking another important new step in the further development of our new BA portfolio, working with an ever-growing group of people to ensure a sustainable future for the humanities at our university.
For phase 3, the BA portfolio project group, on assignment from the Faculty Board, has set up a number of working groups with members from all sections of our faculty. These currently include the ‘Professional skills learning trajectory’ working group, the ‘Alternative graduation pathways for BA degree programmes’ working group, and the ‘More efficient education’ working group.
These working groups have been assigned the task of further developing part of the new BA portfolio into a faculty framework between now and the Christmas holidays, after which the degree programmes will start to fill in further details.
Composition of the working groups
The working groups are composed on the basis of the roles, perspectives and expertise that, according to the project group, must be represented in the working group in order to carry out the assignment. PG1 sought advice and input from the sounding board group and incorporated this into the final composition. A balanced distribution of participation across the various departments was also taken into account. Each working group is supported in terms of content and practical matters by an expert from Educational Development & Training (O&T) and one of the faculty's policy advisers. At least one BA Director of Education from the project group is also represented in each working group.
The final composition of the working groups has been agreed with the Heads of Department and relevant team leaders. For phase 3, partly on the advice of the sounding board group, a representative Humanities student panel will be set up, which will be consulted at least once by the various working groups. In addition to the student panel, a number of other groups have been specified that will be explicitly consulted during phase 3. These include the core teams of the sector plan themes, the BA Programme Coordinators, the Curriculum Committees, the Faculty Council, the Directors of Research and the Board of Examiners.
The assignments and composition of the working groups can be found here:
● Assignment for the ‘More Efficient Education’ working group
● Assignment for the ‘Professional Skills Learning Trajectory’ working group
● Assignment for the ‘Alternative graduation pathways for BA degree programmes’ working group”
A working group with representatives from various departments will also be set up to further develop the ‘verbindingspakket’. The project group is currently working hard to establish clear substantive, financial and practical frameworks, with support and input from various groups and individuals (O&T, experts from the Interdisciplinary Education programme (IDO), Directors of Research, the Faculty Director, faculty support managers and the Head of housing). We aim to have these frameworks in place by the end of October. At that point, the working group for the ‘verbindingspakket’ will also be established. We will then inform you again about the further working method.
Employee and Student Representation / information meetings
Monday 27 October
Information meeting for CC members | CC members are invited
Wednesday 19 November
BA coordinators' meeting | BA coordinators will receive a personal invitation
Friday 21 November
10-12 hrs | Faculty Council (UBB - 1.25 (Tiele Room)) Open to everyone
Tuesday 25 November
Chairpersons of the Boards of Examiners | Chairpersons will receive a personal invitation
Information meetings will be organised shortly (wherever possible before the Christmas break) on the status of the BA portfolio for each department and for support. Both the Faculty Board and PG1 will be present. You will receive an invitation as soon as the dates are known.
Recap of FC and PG1 information meeting
On Thursday 9 October, a large delegation from the Faculty Council (FC) met with three of the five Directors of Education who together form the BA portfolio project group (PG1). Following the progress report on phase 2 and the assignment for phase 3, the FC members had prepared questions in advance. As there was not enough time to answer all the questions, PG1 made an extensive selection of questions and answered them during the meeting. The questions related to the composition of the working groups and the various components of the new BA portfolio, the ‘verbindingspakket’, the professional skills learning trajectory and the graduation process. The FC once again emphasised the importance of timely and clear communication, a point that PG1 will certainly take into account in the future.
A number of questions could not (yet) be answered, as they are a point of attention for the working groups that will be dealing with these. A number of others, including those of a financial nature and/or concerning the assignment for phase 3, fall within the remit of the Faculty Board and have therefore been submitted to it.
Kind regards,
The members of Project Group 1
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