Subramaniam announced in a press release: ‘At the University of Amsterdam, I will have the opportunity to fulfil a challenging and meaningful role in Dutch higher education, that is commensurate with my experience and convictions. After careful consideration and consultation with my family, I have decided to take the plunge.’
'Academic home'
He also says that it was 'not an easy choice'. ‘The role as president of the UT is a special role for me, one that I have fulfilled with great pleasure and commitment in recent years. The UT has a special place in my heart; it was my first academic home in the Netherlands.
The past few years have certainly not been easy, with budget cuts, reorganisations, and discussions about internationalisation. These issues affected me not only as a board member, but also as a colleague and as a person.’
Commitment and enthusiasm
Sylvia Butzke, chair of the Supervisory Board, says in the same press release that she finds it 'extremely unfortunate' that Subramaniam is leaving. 'In recent years, Vinod has worked with great commitment and enthusiasm on Reinventing UT and has also made a lot of efforts to put the UT much more firmly on the map regionally and nationally.'
The portfolio of the President of the Executive Board will be temporarily taken over by Vice-President Machteld Roos and Rector Tom Veldkamp. The Supervisory Board will soon start the procedure to appoint a new chairman as soon as possible.
Verbeek President KNAW
At the UvA, Subramaniam only gets to work briefly with an old UT acquaintance, Peter-Paul Verbeek. The current UvA rector (since 2022) will become president of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences from August. That was announced earlier this afternoon.
