Organisation
Fresh from the Faculty Council: open office hour, study progress during pandemic, and ethics guidelines
The Faculty Council of Archaeology is working to improve the visibility of the Council and its activities. To this end, you will find regular updates about our work on the Faculty websites and newsletters from now on.
Open office hour
On January 28th, the Faculty Council organised the first ever digital open office hour for staff and students. We are happy with the moderate turn-out in the staff meeting, and hope future open office hours will further enable you to express your thoughts on faculty policy. Key topics broached during the staff meeting were communication about HRM and policy. We will co-operate with the Faculty Board to address these concerns. We will also look for ways to improve student participation in the open office hour, for example by co-operating with the Education Committee.
Concerns about study progress and well-being of students
Several concerns about study progress and student well-being, in particular for international students, in relation to the ongoing pandemic have reached the Faculty council over the past month. The student representatives of the Council have brought these concerns to the attention of the Faculty Board, and are talking to student representatives in the University Council to raise awareness at University level.
Close look at new guidelines
The Faculty Board is working on guidelines for appointments and promotions of staff, and has recently implemented new ethics guidelines for co-authorship and fieldwork. The Faculty Council welcomes these new guidelines which provide clarity and structure for key processes at the Faculty. We are currently evaluating these documents to see if they can be honed further. If you would like to provide input: let us know!
Quality assurances
Following discussion at the national level, Dutch universities will evaluate the expenditures under the quality assurances system (Kwaliteitsafspraken) this year. These expenditures are meant to improve the quality of university education, in particular with relation to online teaching, job market preparation, and writing skills. Together with the Education Committee and the Faculty Board, the Council has sought to establish a procedure for these evaluations last year. Currently, our efforts are aimed at the implementation of the procedure.