Jasper's day
Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing? What kinds of things is he doing and what does his day look like? In each newsletter Jasper gives a peek into his life as dean.
Wednesday, 24 January
‘When I check in at The Hague Central Station at 07.20 hrs, I do not yet realise that in doing so I have entered a rollercoaster. Today the destination is not Leiden, but Schiphol Airport and from there to Zurich. There, I will spend the rest of the week contributing to an evaluation of the Faculty of Science office at the University of Zurich. I am looking forward to this interesting experience and think I am going to learn a lot that can be useful to us in Leiden as well.
But first, the journey. At 07.30 hrs, the intercity to Schiphol Airport disappears from the boards at the station. There is a switch failure on the route. Not the first time this month, but it comes at a very bad time for me today. After all, I haven't reserved a whole lot of time to get to Schiphol. Fortunately, there is a sprinter ready and waiting which does appear to be running 10 minutes later. It will take a bit longer, but I already have my boarding pass so I will manage to catch the flight. The train is crowded and I am happy to have a seat.
I have just been sitting for three minutes when a message arrives on my phone: the flight has been cancelled due to the weather. That solves the problem of the train delay, but creates the challenge of getting to Zurich on time at all. Fortunately, that too seems to resolve itself, as ten minutes later I get a message that I have been put on another flight. That one only leaves ten minutes later, so all is good.
At Schiphol Airport, I walk a bit back and forth between check-in counters to get a boarding pass and am eventually told that there is a flight, but no guaranteed seat yet. I am on standby. I quickly go through security and at the gate it turns out that there is now a guaranteed seat. Pressed right at the back against the window, I get to make the short flight. I can only just fold out my laptop to prepare for the evaluation some more.
Finally, after a hectic morning, I still land well on time. By train and a short walk, I go to the hotel in the city, where my fellow committee members pick me up an hour later for the first sessions. We walk to the university, where we have three detailed conversations this afternoon. The first meeting is with one of the university's vice presidents, who explains how the university is organised and gives an explanation of the new governance model introduced in 2020. In this model, faculties and especially deans have been given more decision-making powers.
In the following meeting with the dean of the Faculty of Science, we learn how that model is applied in the faculty. It is an inspiring session, showing a lot of energy and willingness to modernise in the faculty. We talk about resource allocation, the buildings, recruitment procedures and career policy, leadership culture, diversity and social safety. All topics that are also close to our hearts in Leiden.
Afterwards, we talk to the three vice-deans of the faculty. Much of it is about the same topics, often just a bit more concrete. Again, a lot of energy radiates from this conversation. It seems that the Faculty of Science had already initiated many changes for 2020 and is ahead in its thinking. I take a lot of notes, not only for the report we have to deliver on Friday, but also to benefit from the ideas that come along here later. Tomorrow, we are meeting with heads of institutes and departments in the faculty. As a committee, we are curious to know how attitudes there are towards the changes that have been initiated.
At 19.00 hrs, we close the laptops. We have an excellent dinner in town and talk about what we have heard, as well as the many issues going on in the world and how they affect our universities. By 22.30 hrs, I am back at the hotel. I chat with the family and help Jasmine prepare for a big physics test. By midnight, actually way too late for her, we finish up. I answer two more e-mails and go to sleep. It was an eventful day, which fortunately ends a lot calmer than it started.’