Update 04/09/2025
After the last update a lot has happened this summer period regarding the reorganisation of the Earth Science department
Following the appointment of the task force, it was announced during the public meeting of the Executive Board and the Works Council on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, that no final decision would be made on July 15, 2025. One of the reasons for this was that new information had become available from the report of the task force led by Roland Berger. On Friday, July 11, 2025, a meeting was held for staff and students to ask questions to representatives of the Faculty Board and Executive Board. It was announced that a new task force would be appointed to work on a plan for the department. Representatives of the VU boards, department staff, students, and external stakeholders will be involved in this process. It is still unclear exactly what kind of report the task force will produce, but it is already known that it will not be ready before mid-October. No clear answer has yet been given to the question of whether the implementation date of February 1, 2026, is still appropriate.
During the summer period, the reorganization of the Earth Sciences department was once again featured in the media:
- At the end of July, students were interviewed by the Haarlems Dagblad and Noordhollands Dagblad newspapers about the reorganization and what it would mean for students and for the Netherlands.
- On August 29, a student appeared as a guest on the program Vroeg! op NPO Radio 1 to talk about the reorganization of the Earth Sciences department in a segment about disappearing study programs.
