Dean of Research Wouter Hendriks at the Dies Natalis on 7 March. Photo Guy Ackermans After two periods of three years, Dean of Research Wouter Hendriks will be handing over to Edith Feskens. And so a new person will be responsible for the PhD programme at WUR and chair the Wageningen Graduate Schools meetings.
Hendriks, the professor of Animal Nutrition, saw many things change under his leadership. The Doctoral Service Centre, for example, started out with little support and budget but now has its own staff and premises in Atlas. A new registration system for PhD candidates (Hora Finita) has been implemented, as has the EngD programme.
What did you envisage changing six years ago?
‘My goal was and is to improve the quality and efficiency of research. In my view, this starts with our PhD programmes. Lecturers are constantly assessed on their teaching qualities, but this doesn’t happen for PhD supervision. However, that’s in the pipeline. I would also like to implement an exit questionnaire, similar to the teacher assessments for Master’s courses. Not to judge PhD supervisors but to safeguard the quality of the supervision.’
Hendriks includes the coordination of research by the university and the institutes among things that still need work. ‘The organization is not yet managing that alignment. There’s still a lot of potential there.’
But surely people are cooperating within the science groups?
‘The director of a science group is in charge of both the WU and WR sides. The director has a lot of decision-making power in the institutes, but much less control over the chair groups and the education. The professors are responsible for their own budgets. Decisions about research are often made in splendid isolation. That costs WUR money. My proposal is to use PhD candidates and EngD candidates — where possible — for WR projects. This would result in a smaller permanent workforce at WR, with a flexible shell of PhD and EngD candidates. Plus they would get a bonus at the end of these programmes. Ten PhD candidates per year should be possible.’
According to Hendriks, it would also boost cooperation if professors had more influence over WUR’s strategic decisions regarding research. ‘The graduate schools, which consist of the professors and their staff, don’t have an official direct line to the Executive Board and the rector. These schools cover the entire university, but they don’t have a seat at the table during the senior executive meetings in the ABCDE group.’
What is the ABCDE group?
‘They are the Executive Board, the science group and business operations directors, corporate staff and the Deans of Research and Education. About 24 people in total, of which only three are professors: the two deans and the rector. The other 21 have less direct knowledge of research or education. There’s an imbalance there. The science group directors are formally also representing the chair groups, but do they know enough about them? We should include the graduate schools, as they have experience with the day-to-day education and research. There are a lot of layers in the Wageningen organization. We should consider whether this setup is future-proof, especially now we are facing budget cuts.’
