107e Dies Natalis WUR’s new strategic plan is a break with tradition. Previous editions were bursting with self-confidence and optimism. ‘We have an excellent starting position’, wrote the policymakers in 2015, and the board at the time concluded ‘there is a great deal of enthusiasm about the direction we have chosen’. In 2019, WUR cautiously looked more at the wider world: ‘We are exhausting the planet’s resources’. But education and research were still ‘of the highest standard’. While that was (and is) true, there was no need either back then to reject the language of pride and optimism.
But times have changed. The cuts are a serious blow to education and research. Competition in the WUR domains is increasing, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Take Utrecht University. Or China, where the universities are growing and increasing their research production, and attracting students from Africa, for instance. At the same time, in the US science is shaking in its foundations. There are also concerns about falling student preliminary registrations at Wageningen.
The new plan reflects these uncertain times. There are no investment themes, because there is no money to invest. WUR is in a fighting mood with words such as ‘radical change’, ‘battle’ and ‘we must act and be courageous’. But concrete decisions are lacking, as if we still have to get used to the new circumstances. Wageningen does not seem to have lost its confidence in its leading position on the world stage, but there is inevitably a need to galvanize one another to reconsider WUR’s role, including on the world stage. That raises the question of whether a strategic plan for the next five years makes sense. When the world is in flames, what we need more is a crisis plan.
This Comment presents the views and analyses of the editorial board, formulated following a discussion with the editors.
