MINUTES 102ND FC MEETING – 13 AUGUST 2008
Attendees
FC Members
Frank Wijen
Daisy Boogaard
Dwight de la Fontaine
Schluiter
Marijke Waterdrinker
Guests
MT
Steef van de Velde
Official Secretary
Catheleyne Jurgens
1. Opening
The Chair opens the 102nd FC meeting and welcomes everyone. A special welcome is to Vice-Dean Steef
van de Velde, who will be Management Team (MT) representative regarding FC affairs from now on.
2. Agenda
There are no questions or points to be added to the agenda.
3. Minutes
Some annotations have been made to the minutes of the FC meeting of 8 July 2008:
 Fire security T-building (point 5): “It was agreed to reconvene in three months to check whether the
remaining problems have been solved.”, to be replaced by: “It was agreed to reconvene in the first
half of October to make sure that the remaining problems have been solved.”
“The Chair indicates that the ‘human factor’ will be discussed with the Vice-Dean and adequate
procedures will need to be set within three months.” to be replaced by: “The Chair indicates that the
‘human factor’ will be discussed with the Vice-Dean and adequate procedures will be set by midOctober.”
 Faculty budget 2009 (point 6): “Moreover, adequate accounting is not the case at RSM”, to be
replaced by: “Further transparency in the budgets and accounts through the transfer pricing system
would be beneficial for accounting and management”.
The minutes are approved by the FC members without further remarks or amendments.
4. Announcements
The board makes four announcements:
 It has been decided to change the position of Secretary General into Policy Director. A job profile has
been drafted with input from, amongst others, the FC and has been put on Academic Transfer.
Screening will start as of 1 September. Dwight wonders when this new person will start and the
answer is: as soon as possible.
 RSM is cramped for office space. A need of 700m² exists at the moment. The 11th floor will be
converted and will bring 400m² extra as of 1 September 2009. Still a need of 300m² will exist. What is
more, Central level (EFB) lays down a standard of 17.5m² per person, while RSM has a standard of
21m². Investigation points out that other business schools also manage a standard of 17m². If RSM
decides not to manage the 17.5 m² standard, it will entail additional costs of about 500,000 euros per
year. A consultancy agency will invest and make an inventory of different possibilities as of
September. Probably the 6th floor offices and offices on an academic floor or the department chairs’
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offices will be decreased. Frank wonders if the J-building has some office space left. It seems the Jbuilding is restrained by other organisations holding office in the same building as well.
The RSM budget faces a deficit of 4-5%, representing about 1.5 million euros. One million is
incidental because funding lags behind. Moreover, RSM crafts the budget in a conservative way, so
the final figures will probably be more positive than budgeted. Dwight wonders if the Executive Board
(‘CvB’) has a hard deadline for receiving the budget. The Vice-Dean will know this by the end of the
week.
The FC decides to discuss the RSM budget 2009 with Koos Hogervorst and the MT on 2 September.
A step-by-step plan has been set by RSM and EFB with regard to (fire) security of the T-building.
Most of the activities need to be performed by EFB. Some imperfections have led to concrete action,
such as the appointment of organisational relief assistants (‘bedrijfshulpverleners’), follow-up after a
false alarm, and intercom communications in English.
The FC makes one announcement:
 Vinay Tiwari will replace Jordan as the PhD representative in the FC. He could not attend today’s
meeting owing to a foreign conference, but will be present from the September meeting onwards.
5. Follow-up Letters of Advice
Steef apologises for not having a written document about the MT follow-up on the FC’s letters of advice. The
letters about ‘scale and quality of education’ and ‘examination procedure’ will be followed up by Eric Waarts
(Dean BSc and MSc Programmes). The following can be said about ‘welcoming international staff and
students’ and ‘internal collaboration’:
 Welcoming international staff and student housing. RSM does not want to enter the real-estate
market for buying property since it is not its core business, but aims at finding bona fide parties that
can offer decent accommodation for foreign employees and students.
The Vice-Dean would like to see some data of the actual housing conditions of international students
in comparison to those of Dutch students. Students of the IBA programme could serve as a platform
since its consists of 50% international and 50% Dutch students. On the other hand, RSM could also
leave it up to Stadswonen to hand over some figures about the price/quality relationship of
accommodation. Since an accepted system exists to rate accommodation (‘puntensysteem’), it could
be objectively assessed if foreign employees and students are worse off. The Vice-Dean will contact
Stadswonen to ask for more information.
 Best practices. Employees of the T- and J-Buildings should learn more from each other. A lot of
issues related to foreign students occur on an ad hoc basis in the T-building, while employees in the
J-Building have developed a more structured process for such issues. For example, a visa
application takes several months when introduced by someone from the T building, while it takes
only a couple of days when initiated by an employee in the J-Building.
 Job orientation. RSM is working on a job orientation system for new international employees, so that
things will no longer occur on an ad hoc basis. A Wiki system could serve as a useful tool. In this
respect, the HRM offices in the T- and J-Buildings work together to see what information is available
and can be presented in a standardized format. A buddy system, where foreign persons will be
supported by a Dutch person, will enter into force.
Dwight wonders if the HRM offices could also collaborate on the housing problems. The Vice-Dean
mentions that it concerns different target groups with different needs. Finding decent housing is,
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though, also a problem for MBA students. A dedicated manager, Rodney Goins, deals with this
thorny issue.
Realised. Some information which was formerly only available on the intranet and the EUR website
has also been added to the RSM website. It is important that relevant information be available at a
central place in a standardized format. Tilburg University uses an external agency, which is available
for international employees on a 24/7 basis. This is one option to consider as well.
Internal Collaboration. The MT is not in favour of material incentives for collaboration. The MT does,
though, support the improvement of infrastructure. A search tool for finding experts in different areas
is, though, in the process of construction.
Employees should have a strong bond to RSM. A bottom-up approach will be promoted by the MT.
Furthermore, “brand identity” is also something RSM is working on. An internal marketing campaign
will be launched in the fall of 2008.
A meeting will be organised in October 2008 to create a stronger connection between the T- and JBuildings, so that this can result in more cooperation with regard to MBA and executive education.
Selected faculty will be invited. If the meeting is a success, this will be lead to more in-depth
meetings in the future.
Frank wonders if regular lunch meetings for RSM employees, an idea launched by Interim-Dean Berend
Wierenga and endorsed by the present Dean, will actually be introduced. Steef embraces this idea of a place
where employees meet on a regular basis. Frank mentions that a shared, faculty-financed data bank, such
as research centre CentER at Tilburg University has, will be considered. The vice-Dean is positive about the
idea and will present it to Ale Smidts, the RSM Dean of Research and Scientific Director of ERIM.
6. FC’s Letter Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER)
The Vice-Dean has not received the FC’s letter of 16 July last on the desired changes to the new teaching
and examination regulations. Since the new regulations should be ready for the new academic year, he will
urgently consider the letter in consultation with Head of the Examination Board.
7. EUR-RSM Covenant
The Vice-Dean points out that the Covenant gives general guidelines as to RSM’s responsibilities. Since the
Dean is well-informed about this document, he will be invited to attend the FC meeting of 2 September.
8. Any other business
No further items to be discussed.
9. Closure
Frank closes the meeting at 12.50 hours.
The next meeting with the MT will be held on Tuesday 2 September 2008, 10.00-12.00 hours. Focal points of
this meeting will be discussing the budget 2009 and the EUR-RSM Covenant.
The FC members agree to informally discuss the RSM budget on 26 August from 10.30-11.30 hours.
Furthermore, The FC agrees to invite Eric Waarts for this meeting from 11.30 to 12.30 hours to formally
discuss the letters about ‘scale and quality of education’ and ‘examination procedure’.
Next FC meeting 26 August 2008 10.30am in T03-42.
Action points FC meeting 13 August 2008
1. Invite Eric Waarts for the meeting on 26 August.
2. Email new FC student members about the rescheduling of both meetings.
3. Invite the Dean for the meeting of 2 September.
4. Ask Koos Hogervorst to attend the meetings of both 26 August (for clarification) and 2 September
(for formal discussion).