Jantine Schuit starts as the new Rector Magnificus of Erasmus University Rotterdam today (November 1st), meaning the Netherlands now has its first university fully run by women only.
Schuit comes from Tilburg University where, as vice-Rector Magnificus, she was jointly responsible for education, research and impact. She succeeds Annelien Bredenoord who has been university board chair since September 1, 2024. Ellen van Schoten has been responsible for professional services and operations and the strategic pillar of sustainability since 2021. Together, Bredenoord, Schuit and Van Schoten will lead Erasmus University Rotterdam over the next four years to become an even more diverse and inclusive university that trains a new generation of responsible leaders who embrace and actively promote sustainability, ethics and law.
Dies
During the 111th Dies Natalis on Friday, November 8, the official transfer of the rectorship from Bredenoord to Schuit will take place and the three ladies will take the stage for the first time as a full board. You can still register to attend the vibrant program led by journalist, speaker and filmmaker Ikenna Azuike and featuring musical performances by LAKSHMI.
Women professors
The start of this academic year revealed that for the first time, there are as many women as men on the executive boards. The number of female professors nationwide has been rising for years, from 23 percent in 2018 to 28 percent in 2022. In Rotterdam, the previous board expressed the ambition to get the number of female professors to 25 percent by 2025, but that ambition was fulfilled earlier. The national figures are expected to rise even further with the large group of male professors close to retirement.
Beyond 2025
Partly because of that upward trend in terms of female representation, both nationally and in Rotterdam, measures for greater inclusiveness can be seen to be even broader than they already are. 'Because we not only want to encourage gender diversity, but also diversity in ethnicity and sexual orientation', chairman Annelien Bredenoord said recently in an interview in NRC. 'We know that the higher you get in our organization, the less diverse it becomes.'
Intersectional
The focus of Beyond 25 is to help bridge structural gaps for colleagues from underrepresented groups in the upper levels of academia. The program has an intersectional perspective and is designed to welcome colleagues who, because of their gender and/or their migrant or immigrant background, feel they could use some additional support to prepare for promotion to associate professor and full professor.
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