ANNUAL REPORT 2014 UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM CREATING TOMORROW ANNUAL REPORT 2014 UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM ANNUAL REPORT 2014 - UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 6 MESSAGE FROM THE SUPERVISORY BOARD 8 ANNUAL REVIEW OF THE CENTRAL REPRESENTATIVE ADVISORY COUNCIL 12 TEACHING AND RESEARCH 14 1.1 Public profi le 15 1.2 Profi le and performance agreements 17 1.3 Teaching 19 1.4 Research 23 1.5 Corporate social responsibility and innovation 26 ORGANISATION 30 2.1 Quality of staff 31 2.2 Reputation 33 2.3 Reliable and sustainable services 35 2.4 Targeted campus infrastructure 37 2.5 Sustainability 39 2.6 Finances 41 ADMINISTRATION 42 3.1 Corporate governance 43 3.2 Remuneration data 47 FINANCIAL REPORT 50 4.1 Financial reporting 51 4.2 Continuity 55 APPENDIX 1: TEACHING AND RESEARCH 58 Range of programmes offered 59 Performance agreements 62 Student numbers 64 Study success rates 68 Student satisfaction 74 Professors 75 Staff doctoral tracks 77 Internationalisation 79 Partner institutions 80 APPENDIX 2 ORGANISATION 86 Key data 87 Composition of the workforce 90 Infl ux and outfl ow of staff 96 Internal mobility 98 Terms of employment 99 Absence due to illness 101 Target group policy 102 APPENDIX 3: ADMINISTRATION 104 Administrative and managerial staff 105 Statement pursuant to the Dutch Top Incomes (Standardisation) Act 110 APPENDIX 4: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2013 112 JANUARI 5 ANNUAL REPORT 2014 - UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM The year 2013 was an eventful and exciting year for the Amsterdam took up his new position as vice-president of the UvA-AUAS Executive University of Applied Sciences. The anniversary celebrations were the Board in February 2014. 1 FOREWORD BY focus of much attention: 2013 marked the institution’s twentieth year of existence in its current form. However, its roots date back to 1785, the The Strategic Plan: An Eye for Talent is set to enter its fi nal year in 2014. THE EXECUTIVE BOARD year in which the Amsterdam Maritime Training College was established. We are currently making preparations for the Strategic Plan 2015-2020. The festivities focused on the AUAS’s long history, its role in Amsterdam In broad terms, the institution’s current strategy is not set to undergo and the strong ties between city and institution. any major changes. However, we will be applying relatively minor adjustments and elaborating specifi c themes over the coming period. The AUAS’s twentieth anniversary coincided with the ten-year Naturally, the Strategic Plan is a key document that serves to record our anniversary of its institutional cooperation with the University of strategy for the coming years. However, the writing process also offers a Amsterdam (UvA). All the more reason, in other words, to refl ect good opportunity for dialogue, and a chance to determine our current on our current institutional cooperation efforts and the potential for position and main concerns. This process will take place in 2014 and improvement and expansion in the years to come. The evaluation yields I look forward to discussions with the many committed, inspired and a largely positive assessment. The only point of criticism would be that inspiring AUAS colleagues involved in its completion. As in 2013, objectives were not formulated in a suffi ciently concrete manner at the I expect we will achieve excellent results. time, making it more diffi cult to conduct an accurate evaluation. All in all, though, the past ten years have seen consistent efforts to develop Amsterdam, April 2014 the necessary framework for intensive collaboration between the institutions. My compliments to all those actively involved in the process. Louise Gunning-Schepers, President of the Executive Board At the offi cial opening of the academic year in August 2013 Rector Huib de Jong presented the proposal for the AUAS-wide ‘Smart, Sound, Slim’ programmes: three programme lines aimed at speeding up our efforts to achieve the AUAS’s strategic objectives as formulated in our current Strategic Plan, the Teaching and Research Agenda: Creating Tomorrow and the related profi le and performance agreements. We will continue on our current path and make every possible effort to achieve the formulated goals – before the start of the new Strategic Plan 2015-2020 period. A large number of AUAS staff members will play a major or minor role in implementing these programmes over the course of 2014. In another major development, the AUAS successfully underwent an Institutional Quality Assurance Audit in 2013. Over the course of several weeks in the spring of 2013, the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) assessed the AUAS’s quality assurance system. In preparation for the audit, a ‘Critical Refl ection’ was prepared; a self-analysis describing the institution’s administrative procedures. This document formed the basis for the assessment by the NVAO committee, which subsequently spoke with a large number of involved parties. Thankfully, the committee’s fi nal report deemed the AUAS ‘in control’. This positive result – which could not have been achieved without the efforts of a great many people – represents a milestone for the AUAS, and a source of pride. In late 2013, our esteemed colleague Paul Doop left the AUAS and the UvA after an eight-year tenure as vice-president of the Executive Board. Our loss is the gain of the Executive Board at Haaglanden Medical Centre (MCH), where he took up a new position at the start of 2014. We are extremely grateful for his dedication and many achievements, including the nearly completed AUAS Amstel Campus which could not have been realised without his inspirational leadership. In October 2013, we managed to fi nd an excellent replacement in Hans Amman, who 7 ANNUAL REPORT 2014 - UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM The Supervisory Board of the AUAS convened with the Supervisory Board of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in their standard joint meetings, in which the members of the Supervisory Board of the UvA act to advise the Supervisory Board of the AUAS. The Board met on six occasions in 2013, including four times together with the Executive Board. The Board met with the VU University Amsterdam Supervisory Board on two occasions as a part of the Amsterdam Academic Alliance (AAA) initiative. The main topics in the reporting year were: the Institutional Quality Assurance Audit, partnerships as a part of the AAA initiative, development of the new Code of Good Governance, ICT in education, and the fi lling of vacant positions in the Supervisory and Executive Boards. SUBSTANTIVE REPORT fi nd the most suitable degree programmes through activities such as 1 MESSAGE FROM With the Institutional Quality Assurance Audit assessment in spring immersion. This will become crucial under the new system of public 2013, the Supervisory Board was able to show its emphatic commitment loans announced by the government – not only for students but also for THE SUPERVISORY BOARD to the institution’s quality assurance system. The Board reviewed the society generally. The Supervisory Board believes that this is an area in very thorough assessment report and held talks with the assessment which the collaboration between the AUAS and the UvA should prove committee. It read the committee’s opinion, which was positive, with particularly valuable and has met with the Executive Board to consider much interest. The Supervisory Board expressed its sincere admiration the best ways in which to help students choose the right degree to the Executive Board, and in particular to the rector and all the staff programmes. members directly involved in the project, for the AUAS’s exceptional success in attaining the requisite quality level. The areas for improvement As in previous years, the Supervisory Board reserved ample time to identifi ed during the audit refl ect our existing policies and serve as an carry out its statutory duty of assessing the AUAS’s fi nancial accounts. impetus to continue on our current path. The Board was struck by the The annual report and fi nancial statements and the management letter level of passion and commitment for educational quality amongst staff were discussed with the accountant during the April meeting, after and Executive Board members. which the Supervisory Board approved the fi nancial statements. The 2014 Budget (including the Accommodations Plan and the ICT project The Board fully supports the Executive Board’s efforts to promote higher portfolio) was subjected to a review in December, during which the education in Amsterdam at both national and international level. The Supervisory Board and the Executive Board also discussed the long-term Board also supports the various initiatives being taken in this area forecast and fi nancial policies; the budget was subsequently approved. within the context of the Amsterdam Economic Board and Amsterdam The Supervisory Board concluded that the previously identifi ed points for Academic Alliance. In autumn, the Supervisory Board conducted attention were being addressed and improved, with the AUAS showing extensive discussions on the collaboration between the AUAS and the gradual development towards a greater degree of control. UvA. The Supervisory and Executive Boards discussed the desirability, focus and objectives of this collaboration in the period ahead on the Finally, the Supervisory Board reviewed the ongoing development of basis of a memorandum reviewing the fi rst ten years of the merger the new Sector Code of Good Governance for Universities of Applied of the two Executive Boards. The Supervisory Board agrees with the Sciences (Branchecode Goed Bestuur Hogescholen), and concurred with Executive Board’s opinion that this collaboration is exceptionally useful, the various proposed amendments. The Sector Code was adopted in even if the results have not always matched the ideals envisioned late 2013 and is currently being implemented. In the Supervisory Board’s at the outset.