This is stated in the second version of the Sectorplan Science and Technology, sent by the steering group chairman Loek Hermans to education minister Nijs last week. To co-ordinate the research efforts a '3TU Institute of Science and Technology' will be established. First of all the 'clusters' electrical engineering and mechanical engineering will become part of the institute from 1 January.
For these two clusters the deans and scientific directors involved will set up a joint strategic plan, research group plan, appointment policy, and investment plan. The hunt for indirect government funding and commercial funding will also be co-ordinated.
In the Institute of Science and Technology, the clusters EL and ME will be joined shortly by the virtual faculties Mathematics, Physics and Chemical Engineering. Already by 1 January two research programmes will become part of the institute: Information and Communciation Technology and Biomedical Science Engineering. The IST will be evaluated by an external committee after two years.
To 'reprioritise' their research the three TUs will be reserving 12 to 15 percent of their government funding. Each institute will reinvest these funds in such a way that 'each university is strenghtened with regard to the existing high-quality research focuses or that new research focuses are developed,' according to the sectorplan. In May of this year under the guidance of Hermans the three executive boards of Delft, Eindhoven, and Twente already decided to combine the master's, designer's and teacher training programmes in a joint 3TU Graduate School. The same is now happening for research. The aim of the operation is to increase the quality, efficiency, and competitive power of the three TUs. In addition, the societal relevance of research needs to improve, but a separate chapter on this subject will not appear until the final version of the sectorplan that should be ready in January.
In the coming weeks the steering committee will negotiate with the minister on the 'substantial transition costs' needed for the entire efficiency operation. Compensation for this is a prerequisite for success, Hermans writes to Nijs, because the costs to be expended for the -future- transfer or dismantling of research fields, including redundancy schemes and rehousing scientific personnel, cannot be funded from the current budgets.
transl. Dineke van Aalst
