Column Prof. Dr. Sylvester Eijffinger
Opening
Windows
Prof. Dr. Sylvester Eijffinger
Full professor Financial Economics
In collaboration with Annemarie Hinten-Nooijen
Understanding Society. It seems so obvious for a university as a community of researchers.
But as the years go passing by, the motto of Tilburg University really seems to be a very
good and important indicator for the next years of our university. The coming government
will carry through huge reforms and will introduce an austerity policy in the field of higher
education. Visibility then is very important. What do we have to do as a university in this
changing society?
When the authorities withdraw from
funding higher education, one has to
attend to the raking in of money from the
private sector. What is the future of the
university? We have to get rich private
individuals and companies involved. To
succeed in that, the relations have to be
good. We have to be recognizable for the
outside world. Researchers should open
their windows and take advantage of their
knowledge and insights in the direction
of society, and they simultaneously have
to let questions of society get into the
world of research. When professors have
new research data, how do these become
recognized? It is all about valorization.
In the future we should judge researchers
on the basis of the triangle of education,
research and valorization. And this third
aspect has to be valued in time and means.
To improve the process of valorization
there has to be a strategy for valorization,
so that a large part of research and
education is visible in the outside world.
Then it will be a sustainable third aspect of
the core business of our university. In line
with that, at every new appointment of a
professor not only should there be given
weight to the research output, but also to
the effort for the common good, because
that is what valorization in fact is about.
We have to ask ourselves: ‘Do we want this
person as a colleague?’. That someone has
many A-publications is a necessary, but
not a sufficient condition. Besides, when
you remunerate academics particularly for
their individual performances, and when
you strictly concern and weigh every single
task they do and measure everything
in parameters, the contribution to the
common good decreases markedly. Do we
appoint new colleagues explicitly because
of their contribution to the common good
or not?
The valorization activities should also
get their way into the education. When
professors richly share these activities
with their students, they contribute to the
creation of a real universitarian community
people with a common bond intent on
endeavors that may not always have clearcut benefits in the strictest sense of the
word. And society increasingly demands of
university graduates not only knowledge
and expertise, but also the ability to apply
their knowledge and insight creatively
and responsibly. So a focus on valorization
could successfully prepare graduates
for their responsible role in society. With
valorization the golden rule should be:
fundraising is friendraising. We should
therefore raise as many friends as possible.
Understanding Society
Academic Forum
where science meets society and life
Expand your horizon, take the time to reflect
www.tilburguniversity.edu/academicforum
Asset Magazine 43