I have returned to Wageningen after having spent two months in Italy for field research. I’m almost immediately gripped by curiosity. Has anything changed? Have I missed anything? But everything appears to be the same, except for the new, colossal, at first glance, DUWO student housing building on the Marijkeweg.
I’m happy to be back in Wageningen, and although there is plenty on which one may comment regarding our small city (such as: is it even a city?), I am happy here. Wageningen has become home in the course of the five years I have now spent studying here. Recently, I wondered: what makes this home? I envisioned a recipe for success, starting with my friends and fellow students whom I see almost daily. Add the familiar sites of Wageningen, such as the campus, the city centre, and the Binnenveld, where I occasionally take a walk. And the Jumbo, where the queues reach from the counters all the way to the bread department at five in the afternoon. And finally, but most importantly, my own room. A place to call your own. All manner of memories, keepsakes and items you keep in your room make it home and bring feelings of belonging and a measure of serenity.
‘Flexible’ is like a magic word to fix everything: traffic jams, shortages in the employment market, waiting lists for healthcare
Hence, I understand the commotion and frustration that surrounds flexible workstations. ‘Flexible seems to have become a magic word representing modernity, efficiency and convenience. Something to fix everything: traffic jams, employment market shortages, and healthcare waiting lists. But it is mainly used to cover up budget cuts and shortages. This also applies to WUR, where the steep increase in the number of employees has caused a shortage in workspaces (see Resource).
Of course, there is no need to throw good money after bad. Flexible working also has its advantages. But I understand the discontent. Some measure of certainty seems important, particularly as we live in a time when we are always ‘on’ and incessantly fed information and news. Amidst all that bustle, employees will now have to search for a spot in a cold and sterile flexible working environment. I wonder whether the new rector magnificus will have to search for a suitable spot daily. Perhaps I am overreacting, but it seems that excellent scientific personnel with a pleasant working environment is a must for a university. The advice I, a mere master’s student, would like to give for this new year: less flexible, more fixed. Or even better: more like home!
Resource-student editor Maurice Schoo (24) is a second-year master’s student of Development & Rural Innovation. He likes to cook, and he paints when he has the time.