This Monday, however, it is obviously impossible that the 18 members of the University Council and the members of the Executive Board will be meeting one another in Atlas’ ‘Promotion room’. Not only they will not be meeting each other face-to-face, but that also counts for the policy officers and advisors of the services and the members of the student groups who are usually attending. Trees Klaver, University Council chair, states that a general UR meeting therefore normally consists of 40 attendees.

Improvisation

Policy matters are still continuing, which requires improvisation. The participation council has to go through all the pieces and also has to give their advice on or agree with plans or propositions of the Executive Board. Luckily, there are many possibilities to make sure that the University Council and Executive Board can still get in touch with each other, according to Klaver. 

All TU/e students and employees can look into the public pieces that are discussed at every University Council meeting: these can always be found on our intranet. “All questions that the University Council asked about topics that were on the agenda of March 23, and all answers that were received, will be posted online. This is something that the University Council has been working on for quite a while now. We are already doing this as precisely as possible, but this time we are paying extra attention to it since we can’t discuss it face-to-face at this point.”

All chairs of the thirteen council committees, in which subtopics are being discussed in the University Council, have taken another good look at the questions, states Klaver, in order to bother the Executive Board members and their employees as little as possible. “These committees are more involved in particular cases and have more knowledge, which allows chairs to respond to certain questions themselves. This slightly diminishes the workload of the Executive Board,” according to Klaver.

Masterplan TU/e campus 2040

Some topics on the agenda of March 23 for the University Council meeting are rather interesting. For example, the Executive Board’s conceptional drafts for the further development of the TU/e campus until 2040. In an additional note, the Executive Board insists that the council members’ approval is fairly important: 'because it entails a crucial piece of dialogue and also forms the spatial fundament to take further steps, in collaboration with local authorities, into development and realization of student housing (two extra residential towers on campus with a little student town in between, red.).' 

The additional note furthermore states that the city government of Eindhoven still has to approve the realization of this new residential unit, which will happen through judicial procedures. Postponing the whole case would essentially mean that the start of the development and realization procedures will be moved until at least after summer recess.

Study+

The policy and implementation proposals for ‘Study+’ will be discussed as well, in which improvements for students with a disability will be suggested. The main goal of this project is to provide a contribution to accessible and inclusive education for all students, regardless their disability. Propositions include, for example, improvement of the communication and to appoint a so-called ‘attention officer’ within every department, but also the examination of this particular group of students.

Unfortunately, the pilot for stimulus-low spaces during exams can obviously not be put into practice right now, but will be dealt with later. Intentionally, some of the measures have to be implemented throughout this year, while the other proposals have to be carried out in 20205 at the latest. Cursor will soon publish a more in-depth article on this specific topic.

University Council chair Klaver finally states that in the upcoming period and as long as a physical meetings aren’t possible, the University Council members and the Executive Board will collaborate in clarifying the participation procedures.