Meet Ivonne Cune-Noten, Chair of the University Council

Why is participation so important?

Participation ensures that you, as a student or employee, can bring your points to the attention of the board. If you have comments or questions about university-wide issues, the University Council is the place to be. Do you want to bring something to the attention of the board of your faculty? Then the Faculty Council is the place to be. Do you want to say something about your study programme? There are even programme committees. Without participation, your board cannot manage effectively, because without it they would lack information about your experiences.

What was your intrinsic motivation to take up this position and what, in your opinion, are the important development points for the council in the next two years?

For me, Erasmus University is the place where I have worked as a lecturer for the past nine years. It is a special organisation where I feel at home and to which I would like to contribute from this special role. I think that my experience in municipal politics will serve me well. I will stand up for the position of the co-determination at the university, because organising these voices is so important.

Increasing the awareness of the people in the participation is an important point of attention. Not everyone is interested in attending meetings and expressing views. What everyone does have, is an opinion about the university and the faculty and about the organisation of education or the organisation of research. For the board, it is important that all these opinions are represented in the participation. That is why it is necessary that employees and students know how to find their representatives.

It is also important to have a strong network, both within the university (faculty councils with each other and with the university council) and outside the university, for example with university councils of other universities. Good contact ultimately leads to the exchange of ideas and possibilities for cooperation. All parties can benefit from this.