Building Excellent Support at TiU
Program for the restructuring of the support services
10 March 2015
In this document, the main design of the new TiU support organization is presented. The guiding
principles in the design of the structure and the governance will be explained. Structure and
governance are outlined in general principles. A more detailed outline will be drawn up in the months
March up to and including May 2015 (composing the reorganization plan, decision-making in the EB
on 2nd June 2015, presented for advice in the UC on 3rd July 2015).
University Service
In the Strategic plan 2014-2017, TiU aims for a recognizable profile, including unity of policy and an
efficient, transparent, and flexible support organization with a high level of quality. In this main
design, the TiU support activities are placed in one joint organization, the University Service. This is
done to improve the goal-orientedness and effectiveness. The motto is ‘Higher quality through
better cooperation’. It is evident from the action team reports from the first phase of the BEST
program that much can be gained in this area, both in terms of effectiveness/quality as in terms of
efficiency.
Higher quality of service is the main goal of this operation, as a result, the Executive Board also
expects that higher efficiency will lead to lowering the costs of the service.
The proceeds gained in the process will be invested in the expansion of the academic staff with 90
fte (lecturers, assistant professors, and PhD candidates). For this purpose, about €5.5 million is
needed. The Executive Board keeps aiming at these proceeds.
T-shaped leadership & T-shaped professionalism
This commitment to cooperation requires T-shaped leadership from the university’s management.
The shape of the T is a metaphor which stresses the importance of a good balance between focus
on the specialist knowledge of one’s organization unit (the vertical bar) and focus on the stakes of
the organization as a whole (the horizontal bar). The EB and the deans have taken it upon
themselves to jointly look beyond the borders of the schools and academic disciplines to implement
the TiU strategy. The same commitment is expected from the academic and support professionals.
By joining forces, TiU can effectively face the challenges of the coming years. This will not go
automatically. In the implementation process of BEST, extra attentions will be paid to ways of
cooperation and the mutual expectations between the academic professionals and the support
professionals (organization culture).
Support aimed at strategic education and research policy
The most important challenges for TiU are in the area of education, research, and valorization. In the
area of education, the market share of our study programs is of crucial importance. We will have to
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keep on working on an attractive and innovative portfolio of study programs with a(n) (inter)national
inflow of students, good quality assessment, and a high level of student satisfaction. In the area of
research, the focus lies on maintaining and strengthening our reputation as a research university. In
order to keep generating research output with scientific and societal relevance, access to
(international) second-flow and third-flow funding is of vital importance.
Education & Research Division
Academic leadership that jointly wants to focus on these goals cannot do without a complementary
combined support organization. Therefore, an Education & Research Division is included in the
University Service. This division will also offer support in the area of valorization.
In the current situation, education and research support are positioned in the schools, the
department S&P, and the services LIS, GS and StS. Central coordination of the policy and
management cycle is lacking and, on a decentralized level, there are preposterous differences. In
the new to-be-formed E&R Division, the support staff working in the schools’ primary processes will
work together within the framework of policy and operational management determined by the EB
(institutional level) and the schools respectively.
The new Education & Research Division will support the academic leadership with the preparation
and implementation of education, research and valorization policy. In this process, full use will be
made of the experience, the intellect, and entrepreneurship ‘in the workplace’ for academics and
support staff alike.
The division will be designed in such a way that academic leadership at all levels can directly consult
with the support staff in their vicinity. Teams will be formed per school offering support to the vice
deans, program directors, program leaders research, and heads of department.
For example, for education, these teams will consist of program coordinators/academic advisors,
policy officers quality care and innovation, and recruiters and, for research and valorization, teams
will consist of staff members concerned with subsidy support/ project support and quality care and
graduate school coordinators.
The employees of the school teams will participate in TiU wide groups in which they share expertise
and/or work on projects and, together, they will give shape to the TiU wide education and research
support. For example, a TiU wide group taskforce project acquisition in the areas of research;
meetings about study and student support; projects in the area of education innovation.
At the level of the schools, the managers of the school teams collaborate with the deans, vice deans
and directors. Furthermore, as MT member of the E&R Division, they have institute wide policy
themes or projects in their portfolios. For example, a manager of school teach X will be responsible
for the preparation and implementation of TiU wide quality care (e.g. coordination of the education
accreditations).
At het level of the institute, the director of the Education & Research Division functions as the
counterpart of the EB, the Rector in particular. The E&R Division’s MT can be seen as the
governance counterpart in the consultation between the Rector and the vice deans.
Besides the school teams, the Education & Research Division will also contain a Service Center, in
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which, amongst other units, the student administration and the helpdesk for (international) students
will be positioned. The manager of this Service Center E&R will be part of the MT.
Members of staff in the area of education and research support with a specialist profile, like for
example a student psychologist, will be positioned within the staff of the division. There is the
specific intention to limit the number of functions outside the school teams as much as possible.
When drawing up the organization design in more detail, further choices will be made concerning the
position of education and research supporting units of the existing services. Partly due to the
required focus and the scale of the new E&R Division, units that do not directly support the primary
process can be positioned in other divisions. A unit like Academic Forum, for example, could be
positioned in the Marketing and Communication Division.
Divisions of the University Service
The other divisions will also be at the service of education & research. For this we have opted for a
division classification which guarantees clarity, visibility, and recognizability. This means that the
divisions will be assigned in line with the usual functional areas.
The divisions of the new University Service will be set out below. For every division, the main
processes will be indicated as they were identified by the action teams from the first phase of the
BEST program:
1. Education & Research Division, managed by the Director Education & Research. The main
processes of the Education & Research Division are formulation and implementation of
education and research policy, formulating the education vision of the institute, administration
and program management of the study programs, the development and deployment of modern
education concepts like online education, the support, supervision and advice of students and
lecturers, student development and the administration of the education processes. The routine
and administrative processes in the area of E&R will be bundled in the Service Center of the
division. For students, one Student Desk will be set up. In addition, processes will be digitalized
as much as possible making use of self-service concepts.
2. Marketing & Communication Division, managed by the Director Marketing & Communication.
The main processes of the Marketing & Communication Division are formulating a
communication strategy, taking care of the (governance) communication of the key processes
education, research, and valorization, internal communication, recruiting students, corporate
relations, and alumni relations.
3. Human Resources Division, managed by the Director Human Resources. The HR Division is
responsible for formulating and implementing the HR policy of the institute. The main processes
this division is focused on are general personnel policy, recruitment & selection, organizational
consultancy, HR advice, and HR administration. The administrative processes will be bundled in
one Service Center HR.
4. Finance & Control Division, managed by the Director Finance & Control. The main processes
this division is focused on are general financial strategy, financial planning & control, budget
cycle, financial risk management, audit, purchasing, project management, and financial
administration. The administrative processes will be bundled in a Service Center Finance &
Control.
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5. Library and IT Services Division (LIS)1, managed by the Director LIS. The main processes of
the LIS Division are general IT policy, information management, information security, library
services, telephony and network management, and management of IT workstations. This
division’s service will be offered as standardized as possible by a Service Center LIS.
6. Facility Services Division, managed by the Director Facility Services. The main processes of
the Facility Services Division are management of buildings (amongst which offices, lecture and
research rooms), campus development & management, sports facilities and management of
cleaning facilities, catering, and security. The Division’s service is offered as standardized as
possible by a Service Center FS.
7. Executive Staff, managed by the Secretary General of the university. The Executive Staff
supports the Executive Board in the development and implementation of the governance and the
operational management agenda of the university. The main processes for which the Executive
Staff is responsible are: general strategy and institutional policy, (control of) planning & control
cycles, compliance, integral management information, (international) governance/management
relations, and governance legal affairs.
It is obvious that there are interconnections amongst the divisions; after all, they are all in service of
the support of education, research, and valorization. For issues that go beyond the divisions and for
chain processes, project or program groups can be organized.
The entire support staff are appointed in the University Service and are hierarchically managed by
the divisions’ management. The directors of the schools form an exception. They are appointed by
a school with the dean as their manager. The school directors are part of the MT or, in other words,
the board of the school. 2
The secretaries working in the schools (for school management, departments and institutes) are
formally positioned in the University Service, but will be seconded to the schools. These employees
will, therefore, be hierarchically managed by the schools. In the University Service, they will
participate in a professionalization program, amongst other things, aimed at institution wide
procedures and systems.
As many of the support staff as possible are in direct contact with the scientists. We position the
support staff under the ‘influence’ of the academics; administrative centers are, in principle, central
units also located together; part of the employees belonging to these centers may be located in a
school.3
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It has been considered to split ICT and Library because of the recognizability of the service areas. Due to
the scale of the Library, this would have meant positioning in another division. The alternative options
(positioning in the E&R or Facility Services Division) do not offer sufficient advantages. Part of the education
and research support positioned in the present LIS will be transferred to the E&R Division.
2
In accordance with the TiU Mandate Regulation, the school director is granted a general submandate by the
dean. Starting point is that a dean makes all the (important) decisions. The aim of the submandate is, on the
one hand, to limit the dean’s administrative workload, and, on the other hand, to guarantee the continuity of
the operational and management issues.
3
Considering the scale of the school and because of the double location, a tailor -made support organization
will be designed for the TST.
4
Divisions with school teams
The Education & Research, HR, and Finance &Control Divisions consist of school teams. E&R
employees, HR advisors, financial controller, and project support staff member will be able ‘to do
businesses’ with the management of the departments, program directors and individual scientists.
They will need to get sufficient ‘maneuvering space’ from the management of their division. In
addition, these employees will participate (structurally or based on projects) in TiU wide expertise
and project groups.
The managers/coordinators4 of the school teams are directly at the service of the school
management (dean, vice deans E&R, and/or the director). In their division, the
managers/coordinators of the school teams are part of the management team, chaired by the
director. In this capacity, they are the drivers (or first point of contact) of the TiU wide expertise
and/or project groups. For example, MT member of the HR Division are responsible for a university
wide theme like ‘student Inflow policy’ ‘promotion policy’, ‘Care & Health’.
In this model, there are fewer (hierarchal) management positions compared to the present
organization.
In addition, the divisions E&R, HR, and F&C all have a Service Center. Employees who perform
administrative jobs are positioned here. In case it is functional, these employees will be deployed in
the schools or other divisions. A large number will be placed centrally. Every Service Center has a
manager who is also a member of the Division’s MT.
Not all of the employees of the divisions Education & Research, HR, and Finance & Control will be
working in school teams. In case it is not functional, we will deviate from this rule. This applies to
specialists, like, for example, a pension expert in het HR Division, or a policy officer. These could be
placed in the staff of the director. When drawing up the organization, the aim is to keep this
category as small as possible. The starting point is that the support staff of these divisions, if at all
possible, have a connection to a school.
4
The E&R school teams will, due to their scale, have a formal manager (e.g. head of department). For the
other service areas, there will be a senior school coordinator/team leader in charge.
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The basic structure of the divisions mentioned above is presented in this organogram.
DIRECTEUR
STAFMW
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
XXXXX
TiU-brede expertise- en projectgroepen
TEAM
TEAM
TEAM
TEAM
XXXXX
SERVICE CENTER
Legend
 The division is constructed out of teams per school and has a service center. The division is
headed by a director.
 The managers/coordinators of the teams form the MT together with the director and the head of
the service center.
 There is (limited) space for staff employees (namely specialists).
 Employees and leaders of the school teams participate in the TiU wide expertise and project
groups. This can also apply to staff employees and service center employees.
 There is (limited) space for other organization units than teams per school (unit xxxxx). However,
the basic principle remains that the divisions are managed by an MT with (most) members
rooted in the schools.
 Scope for differentiation remains in case this is beneficial for the service of a specific column.
Divisions with functional units
The Marketing & Communication, ICT, and Facility Services Divisions consist of units with a
functional coherence. The divisions (or parts of such) work with an account person for the schools or
they participate in a school team, for example, housing/facility coordinators.
From the Marketing & Communication Division, education marketers will be added to the E&R
school teams. In addition, this division has corporate tasks and, as a result, will differ slightly in the
way it is organized compared to the school team model.
Executive Staff
The Executive staff is responsible for the process management of policy preparation and
implementation. This entail responsibility for both the governance as the operational management
agenda of the institute. Dossiers the Executive Staff focusses on are general strategy and
institutional policy, (control of) planning & control cycles, compliance, integral management
information, (international) governance relations, and governance legal affairs.
The Executive Staff is managed by the Secretary General of the University. The Executive Staff is a
compact staff unit consisting of generalist policy officers/executive secretaries responsible for policy
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preparation or they assign the preparation/implementation elsewhere. Policy officers with contentrelated expertise will be positioned in the other divisions. In principle, Policy officers are positioned in
school teams unless the specialism is such that is beneficial that this specialist policy officer is
positioned in the division staff unit.
In the Executive staff, capacity for initiating innovative projects is provided. As soon as possible,
after the initial phase, the supervision of innovative projects is handed over to the existing
organization.
Governance
The governance model for the new organization is in accordance with the existing Structure
Regulation (see appendix). The governance and operational management of TiU can be improved in
terms of quality and capacity for action if the alignment, coordination, and communication improves:
within each of the separate columns between the different levels, and between both columns. This is
presented in the schedule below. The academic professionals determine the policy content and
dictate the service priorities. Policy formulation takes place on three levels. Starting point is utilizing
strength at the basis. That is where the support staff should be positioned; if possible in school
teams. Policy preparation and implementation is coordinated at the level of the institute and at the
level of the schools with and important role for the Secretary General of the university.
Alignment, coordination and communication  Quality & capacity for action!
Academic professionals
Support professionals
Policy formulation (3 levels)
 EB / President & Rector
 OCD (Executive Board and Deans
Consultations)
 Dean / VDs O&O / School MT/Board
 HoD / Program Director / Program
Leaders Research
Policy preparation and implementation
 Secretary General (SG)
 Directors Schools
 Directors Divisions
SG = primus inter pares
Utilizing strengths:
 departments
 study programs
 research programs
Cooperation though:
 teams supporting study programs
(E&R)
 teams serving operational
management (HR/F&C)
 account persons
Below the governance at the different levels is explained in more detail:
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Alignment governance and the operational management at the level of the university
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The EB decides on the important (strategic) decisions.5
The EB consult the deans on important (strategic) decisions (OCD).6
The Rector consults with the vice deans E&R.
The Secretary General is in charge of the governance and the operational management agenda.
The SG chairs the meetings with the division directors and the school directors.
The divisions contribute to the policy preparation and are responsible for the implementation.
The EB manages the University Service. The member of the EB operational management is the
manager of the division directors.
The dean is the manager of the school director.
Alignment governance and the operational management (institution – schools)
•
•
•
•
The EB consults with the deans (OCD as alignment consultation). The Secretary General has a
supporting role.
De Secretary consults with the school (institution – schools).
The Secretary consults with the division directors.
The Secretary consults with the school and division directors on account of his/her role as liaison
officer on behalf of the EB. Therefore, the Secretary has a strong and directive role.
Alignment governance and the operational management at the level of the schools
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
5
The dean has the integral ultimate responsibility for the governance and management of the
school.7
The school has an MT or a board consisting of vice deans Education and Research, a school
director and a student as assessor of the MT or a member of the board.
The director is in charge of the governance and the operational management agenda.8
The divisions contribute to the policy preparation and take care of the implementation.
The school director consults with the managers of the school teams and with the account
persons from the other divisions.
The director is mandated by the dean for the portfolio operational management. Therefore, the
director has a directive role concerning all the domains the support organization operates in.
On occasions, the school director consults with the division directors. In addition, he/she
participates in the directors’ meeting.
Article 5 of the Structure Regulation says that the EB is entrusted with the governance of the university as a
whole and with the management thereof.
6
The OCD is provided for in Art. 2.2 from the Management and Control Regulations (BBR).
7
According to the TiU Structure Regulation, the dean is charged with the general management of the school
and with the management and structure of the school on education and science (Art. 15 and 16). The EB is
authorized to give the deans guidelines on the organization and coordination within the school (Art. 8).
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TiSEM and TLS also have, besides the school director, executive secretaries. For TLS this position is
included in the school regulation. These functions and their positions will be decided on when the main
design is worked out in more detail.
8
This governance model is in accordance with the existing regulations (Structure Regulation,
Management and Control Regulation, and Mandate Regulations). This means that the extent to
which policy and support are harmonized is determined by the EB in consultation with the deans.
Escalation model
The main design presented above is one of a collaborative organization. Should tension,
nevertheless, arise, the main rule is that these are preferably solved on the level where they occur.
For that reason, there are pivotal points at all levels between the ‘academic column’ and the ‘support
column’. School directors and the Secretary also play an important role here. Primacy lies with the
academic leadership and ultimately with the EB.
Participation
For the design of the participation in the new organization the starting point ‘participation follows
control’ will be leading. In accordance with this principle and in consultation with the existing
participation and external experts, a model for the new organization will be designed.
Allocation of time and budgets
In the further detailing of this main design, attention will have to be paid to the development of a
transparent allocation model for the assignment of support to the divisions (and the schools
respectively). Meanwhile, an expertise group Finance has started, amongst other things, to tackle
this challenge.
International employees and students
In the coming years, TiU will keep on working on the realization of an international campus. The
support divisions are given the explicit assignment to also make sure that the international
employees and students have access to their information and services. So long as this has not been
realized, a specific front desk function will be maintained.
Students and BEST
From the perspective of the student, BEST will also lead to major changes. In the positive sense, we
expect. The new support organization will lead to more unity of support service to students and also
increase the recognizability of the support units. In concrete terms, for example, we will work
towards a single front desk for study and student support. The logistic support of the study programs
will be harmonized. Furthermore, the translation of the education vision into concrete products &
services in the schools will proceed in a more uniform way. In each school, program coordinators will
be appointed. Study associations will be closely involved in the way the job market orientation and
career services are designed.
Student satisfaction with the support service will be measured through an instrument comparable to
the organization monitor. Furthermore, students, through participation, will be involved in the design
of and assessment of the service they are provided with.
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Follow-up
Meticulousness is more important than speed. Based on this main design of the new support
organization, we will work on the further development during the months of April and May. This will
result in a reorganization plan which will be presented to the EB at the end of May. The
reorganization plan will contain an overview of the internal structure per division, including the
functions and the size of the workforce.
In the further detailing of the design, it is important to work together constructively with academic
staff, support staff, and students. When necessary and possible, meetings will be organized with
critical discussion partners, for and against, to jointly perfect the design. Even then it will not be
possible to consider every detail. Therefore, we would like to emphasize that, in the final
reorganization plan, a work agenda for every division will have to be determined for the first period
after the formal reorganization. In this work agenda priorities concerning further improvements and
harmonization of the support service will be formulated and the time frame for the implementation
will be determined.
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