June 2026 Faculty Board update
As the end of the 2025–2026 academic year approaches, we would like to share some of the latest developments at our faculty and what is on the agenda going forward.
New assessor
The Faculty Board is pleased to welcome our new assessor, Asya Bozkurt, who will start on 1 September 2026. She will be taking over from Roel Kwast who has held the position over the past two years. To become familiar with what the role involves, Asya has been working with Roel since 1 May. This transition period will help Asya get off to a flying start in the new academic year.
Budget 2027–2031
Earlier this month, the Faculty Council approved the main points of the budget for 2027-2031. These are now being further developed into a full budget, which will again be submitted to the Faculty Council. The Executive Board will then consider a number of matters to decide at the beginning of October, such as the wage and price adjustment. The decisions taken by the Executive Board will be included in the final version of the budget in October. The faculty’s financial situation for 2027 is better than predicted due to the slightly better study results in 2024–2025. As a result, we may, for example, be able to appoint PhD candidates funded by Meijers grants. In 2028, the budget will still be under some pressure, but signs of further improvement are already visible in the preliminary study results for 2025–2026. Though cautiously optimistic, we must continue to take account of uncertainties, ranging from political decisions and university spending to faculty innovations such as the minor offerings in the fifth semester and the introduction of the revised graduation track in our Law bachelor's programmes.
Minors
In recent months, we have been working hard to develop the minors we propose to offer as of the 2027–2028 academic year. In that year, for the first time, the elective courses for our bachelor’s students will be fully concentrated in the fifth semester. Using input from the institutes and degree programmes, we have defined the broad outline of a varied range of minors that will be interesting for both our own students and students from outside our faculty. In this process, the focus was not only on the perspective of the individual programmes, but also explicitly on identifying synergies between institutes in line with the strategic profile of the faculty and the university. The result is a broad offering of minors that will be further developed, in terms of content and organisation, within the institutes over the coming months. Read more about the proposed offering of minors in the fifth semester of academic year 2027-2028.
New career development policy
Another development at our faculty is our new career development policy. This policy aligns with current developments such as Academia in Motion (Open Science and Recognition & Rewards), leadership development and CAO changes. The faculty working group Academia in Motion, together with HR, has developed clear guidelines and procedures for career and talent development of all staff. The new policy is an important step in the follow-up to the Employee Experience Survey. This not only responds to employees’ needs for greater clarity about career development criteria and procedures but also supports our approach to a socially safe work environment and work-life balance. One important change, compared to the current policy on career development, is that the new policy will make it possible to differentiate between the various areas of university work, i.e. Education, Research and Organisation, Governance & Advisory (OBA). In addition to this, a range of courses has been developed that will support employees at the different stages of their development. The new career development policy will be implemented in the new academic year. Further details will be shared with employees and management staff in the coming months.
Internationalisation
A short questionnaire has been created as part of the assignment of the Steering Group on Internationalisation. Please consider filling in this questionnaire which will help us find out what staff know about our international partner universities and networks and their experiences.
Finally
Finally, we thank everyone for their hard work and efforts over the past year. We hope to do so again in person on 30 June when we gather for the faculty Summer Party at brasserie Rumour in Leiden. As the academic year draws to a close, we look forward to welcoming you all there.
Kind regards,
Suzan Stoter, Jan Crijns, Gertjan Boshuizen and Roel Kwast