Social Safety Plan submitted to the Education Inspectorate
The action plan for social safety has been presented to the Education Inspectorate by TU Delft’s Executive Board and shared with Minister Dijkgraaf by the Supervisory Board. The plan, called ‘A Plan for Change’, was drawn up in response to the Education Inspectorate’s critical investigation report into social safety at TU Delft, that was published on 1 March 2024. It found that employee care and social safety within the university were inadequate. A harsh conclusion that did not leave the board and the university unmoved. “The distress that people within our university have experienced as a result of socially unsafe behaviour touches us deeply. It is unacceptable and presents us with the important task of structurally strengthening social safety within our university,” the Executive Board said. TU Delft was given until 16 May to come up with a plan to make this happen.
An eye opener
“The Education Inspectorate’s report, but also the many conversations we’ve had with staff and students over the past period, have opened our eyes and made us face facts,” says the Executive Board. “We can and must do better. Social safety needs to get prioritised, monitored and improved. After all, our aim is to provide a pleasant and safe study and work environment for all our staff and students. We want to be a university where we treat each other with respect, where we look out for each other and where we can speak freely. An organisation where we work together to create a socially safe university in order to prevent undesirable behaviour. We recognise that we are not there yet. We have work to do. But we can and want to be that kind of TU Delft. We are convinced of that”.
Valuable input
In recent months, the university, with the help of the entire TU Delft community, has been charting a course towards a socially safer university. In order to arrive at a widely supported plan – a plan by and for the community – input and feedback have been widely gathered within the organisation during this period. Efforts have been made to ensure that the process has been as inclusive and transparent as possible, and that everyone – staff, students and alumni, but also the Works and Student Councils (OR and SR), Deans and Directors, and internal and external experts – has had the opportunity to be involved in the improvement process: to participate, to share their thoughts and join in the discussion, whether they chose to do so anonymously or not.
“This resulted in a lot of valuable input. We saw many colleagues, students and alumni speaking up, daring to be vulnerable, overwhelmingly sharing ideas. This sometimes involved a lot of emotion. There was, is and will continue to be room for that. The process so far has resulted in a path that will lead us to the TU Delft that we want to be,” the Executive Board said.
‘Plan For Change’
The result of this process is a first ‘Plan for change’. It is not a ready-made action plan, but a change plan and a ‘living document’ that will focus on short-term actions, but also on the long-term culture change we want to see and what is needed to achieve it.
“This plan is only the beginning of a process that will require constant attention, updates and adjustments over the coming years. We feel and see an overwhelming desire to move forward together, a curiosity about what lies ahead and a belief that we can do it together. As a Board, we are embracing this process of change with both hands, together with our community.”