Rectoral opening speech academic year 2024-2025

Dear guests

Dear UGent’ers

I, too, want to welcome you all to this ceremonial opening of the academic year.

Those who are regular guests at our ceremony will see, feel and hear that this opening of the academic year is unlike previous ones.

This is not the stately Aula but the UFO. It feels different. Students participated in the procession of toga-clad academic staff. A student brass band was heard. Students took the floor to speak. And later on, there will not be the classic reception but a new edition of our famous Happy Hour, which we have renamed Happy Start for the occasion.

Look around you and you can see what our university stands for and the direction it is going in: providing an academic home for talented people who are eager to learn.

It is up to us – lecturers, researchers and all the other university staff – to guide and help them in that, to support them, let them investigate and discover, challenge them and show them the way to excellence.

On events in the UFO earlier this year

Dear guests

In the previous academic year, the UFO here was not only a home for a large number of students and employees, it was also a place of protest. A place where students stayed for weeks to shout their horror at the atrocities in Gaza  and to urge the university to take action.

And we did act. On 31 May, on the advice of our human rights committee, Ghent University took the decision to stop a large number of collaborations with Israeli governmental organisations and academic institutions.

Initially, we attempted, directly and through diplomatic channels, to urge the European Commission to exclude Israeli partners from programmes and projects financed by Europe. That would have been not only the fastest, but also the clearest route. Not just for us, but for all European universities.

However, the European Commission has so far been unwilling to address the issue. In this respect, I have to say that European policymakers have not excelled in recent months in supporting European institutions of higher education on the question of how best - and best not - to deal with conflicts such as the one between Israel and Hamas.

So, we then started mapping out the steps to be taken to end our cooperation project by project. This is the hard way, but that does not prevent us from taking this route. We are fully engaged in this analysis and will continue the process of terminating these collaborations step by step. Staff in our University Services are working hard on this. And they are doing it well. Let me say that plainly and clearly.

Let me also make it very clear that Ghent University will in no way reverse the decision of 31 May. This university will not create loopholes or try to bypass and continue the contested collaborations. Our decision holds and we accept the consequences. Even if it comes with some disadvantages, such as ‘cost’ for the University.

Does this mean that all links between researchers at Ghent University and Israeli partners will be cut? No. Researchers can still enter into or continue individual collaborations within the framework of academic freedom. The decisions we took concern institutional collaborations and not individual ones.

As I have said, last year this UFO building  was a place of protest. This academic year, I very much hope that it will be, above all, a place of dialogue and connection.

On students’ needs, the Student Centre and Health Care Centre

Students have diverse and complex needs. They expect not only high-quality education, but also welfare support, flexibility in their studies and opportunities for both academic and personal development. We need to respond to those needs and provide an environment in which every student feels heard, supported, and at home. All this within the limits of what is feasible.

In recent years you have regularly heard me say, the unachievable should not be asked of anyone, let alone demanded. Not even from a university and its employees. But what is reasonable and achievable must be done.

So, in the years to come, we will focus even more on supporting students at Ghent University.

You may already have noticed that just a few houses down the road, here in Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat, there are infrastructure works underway. At house number 47 to be precise, a year from now, at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, we will open the new Student Centre.

The Student Centre will be a unique place here at Ghent University. Students, future students, international students, doctoral students and lifelong learners will all be able to go there with the most diverse questions about any aspect of their studies. For an interview with a director of studies, a student psychologist, the disability contact point, social services, and so on. The Student Centre will be a drop-in centre. A place where students are assisted confidentially and can count on a warm welcome. Where they arrive with a question or a problem and leave with a solution.

As a matter of fact, we developed and designed the Student Centre with the students. 'Nothing for them without them'. It is more than just a well-known motto – we also try to act on it.

In addition, on the initiative of Ghent University, the Student Health Care Centre will be launched in January 2025.

The social need for more and better organised help for students with psychological complaints is great; the figures underline this. Today, too few students – and young adults in general –  can get help. And those who do are sometimes faced with a long wait.

In addition to this, there is a need for more specialised and complex care, specifically for young adults in the transition period between 17 and 26. The Student Health Care Centre is a collaboration between all the institutes of higher education in Ghent, plus the City of Ghent, to provide students with better and more targeted care in the immediate vicinity of where they study. By offering affordable and accessible help, problems can be detected at an early stage and students can be helped faster than they are now.

Ghent University took the initiative, but we have developed it with all the other institutes of higher education in Ghent and the City of Ghent. This collaboration is important. Because boundaries between institutions, let alone doors that open for one institution’s students but remain closed for others are of no interest to students.  

Talking of cross-border cooperation…

On travel and the importance of internationalisation

I travelled a lot in the last academic year, along with numerous UGent'ers.

What researchers, lecturers, administrative and technical staff and, yes, our students in Belgium and abroad achieve, is very important. Both for them personally and for our university as a whole. Their international activities contribute to the university’s core tasks. They contribute to the international positioning of Ghent University. And they give Ghent University a ‘face’ abroad.

Participating in this is one of my core tasks, as rector and as an ambassador for our University in general.

International mobility is enriching. Because, for example, it brings people from diverse backgrounds together.

That leads me to the following consideration: wouldn’t it be good to give our academics, staff and students more time and space to get together here at the University - and to create the opportunity for it? Without a predetermined agenda or schedule. To exchange ideas among themselves. Just because we can. Not because we have to.

I think we have to create more opportunities for this in the coming years. The development of our vision for the future UGent Verbeeldt 2050 (Ghent University Envisions 2050) offers the momentum for thinking about this and making it a reality. I call on all of you to do this with me, with us.

On financing

We also need to talk about money.

At the moment, governments are in the process of formation in Belgium. I ask all those who are forming them to take their responsibility when it comes to financing higher education and scientific research; when it comes to the development of a policy for good-quality, affordable  student housing; when it comes to the development of decent infrastructure  for all our employees, and a Ghent science park that ranks among the absolute best in Europe.

I shall be happy to continue to throw my weight behind that, together with the competent politicians and government departments. In the same context, let us follow up on the talks initiated last year by Ghent University, and supported by Leuven University, with the Flemish Minister of Budget, Finance and Housing on student housing. I am sincerely grateful to Minister Diependaele for these talks, during which he clearly understood and grasped our needs. I hope he will continue to support them and will recognise and realise our urgent demand for a sustainable financing model including - and especially - when he becomes minister-president in the near future.

on the shortage of teachers, the role of Ghent University and an appeal to politicians

Dear people,

Universities and policymakers within the universities should pay attention to more than just the type of education for which they are directly responsible. I would therefore like to take a moment to talk about a social problem that concerns us all: the shortage of teachers.

Finding a solution to the teacher shortage is one of the biggest challenges for Flanders, if we want to maintain the knowledge economy we have today. More than ever, we need sufficient, well-trained teachers.

However, there is no ready-made solution for the teacher shortage. Research shows that both short-term and long-term solutions will be needed. Policy measures will be required at every level: teacher training, coaching for beginners and career development.

As a university, we bear and take responsibility for this. Since the 2019-2020 academic year we have organised eight Master programmes in Education at Ghent University. In these programmes we train teachers for upper secondary education. The students not only become experts in their own subject but in teaching as well. These are exactly the teachers we need in secondary education because they will prepare new generations of students for higher education.

In addition, with the start of the new academic year, we are introducing a new programme, a Master in Elementary Education. Although this master programme will only begin next year, we are already starting the bridging programme for it. The purpose of the Master in Elementary Education is to train teachers who will also teach  in nursery and primary schools. This means we not only respond to the teacher shortage but also aim to improve the quality of education.

Another characteristic of the Master in Elementary Education programme is that it is an academic programme with a clear professional identity. The Master in Elementary Education in Ghent has been designed in cooperation with three other colleges in our association, Arteveldehogeschool, HOGENT and HOWEST. We look back with satisfaction on the process, whereby we shaped the programme together, as four partners. Now we are ready to launch it together.

On lifelong learning and the early success of micro-credentials

I would also like to take a moment to reflect on the importance of lifelong learning and the way in which we approach it at our university, for example through the micro-credentials that are part of the Nova Academy’s offering. Nova Academy  is the lifelong learning platform that we set up with the University of Antwerp and the VUB in Brussels, and which a number of colleges may soon join.

Micro-credentials are short, flexible courses that offer those who take them the opportunity to develop and validate targeted skills. Ghent University made a strategic decision to invest in these micro-credentials, as a response to a clear demand from the labour market for customisation and flexibility.

From the growing number of participants, we can see that there is increasing interest in them. This is a particularly positive turn of events – our university plays a leading role in the field, partly by daring to think and act across institutions.

I would therefore like to sincerely thank and congratulate the organisers and providers of our lifelong learning programmes and all the faculty academies for the excellent work they are doing. I also call on everyone to join in the effort to further expand our offering. Lifelong learning will become even more important in the future than it is already.

On South Korea and the future of GUGC

Let me return for a moment to my reflections on the importance for our university of internationalisation. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our campus in South Korea. I am proud of what we have achieved there. The Ghent University Global Campus – GUGC for short – proves that we can push boundaries and establish ourselves as a leading university globally.

But this success is not an endpoint, on the contrary, it is a new beginning. We are on the threshold of a future full of possibilities and opportunities. We used the tenth anniversary to look back, but also – even more – to look forward. We launched an ambitious vision of the future for the next ten years. A vision that came about on the basis of a great deal of consultation. A vision, the realisation of which will require even more consultation, in the months and years to come, with our colleagues who are active in South Korea and with those who are helping shape the Ghent University Global Campus here in Ghent.

I consider it a privilege to be closely involved in that myself. I am convinced that we are doing something extraordinary. We are the only Belgian university with a fully-fledged foreign campus. Whenever I talk about this to representatives of foreign universities, they are surprised and envy us that campus. Rightly so.  Here in Ghent we are not always sufficiently aware of the importance and value of our campus in South Korea. There is room for improvement in that respect. We should dare to say so, too. We should talk about it more often.

That is exactly why I am talking about it now. That is exactly why we also gave two GUGC students the chance to speak to you. And that is exactly why the further development of our activities in South Korea is high on my agenda.

On the University Services

Dear UGent’ers,

I am almost at the end of my address as rector. Let me draw your attention to one last – but not unimportant – event.

With the start of this academic year, we welcome, in addition to new students and colleagues, a new era for what has until now been called our 'central administration'.

On 1 October the remodelled University Services are to be launched. University Services with a capital 'U' (You).

The reorganisation brings new opportunities to connect more strongly, both within the administration and between faculties and administrative services.

We dared to analyse our processes and collaborations, to question them and, where useful, to redesign them to fit the challenges of tomorrow. Trust and responsibility were central to this. That is the only way to ensure and further strengthen the quality of our teaching and research.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the reform of the University Services. The desired changes are only possible because of the commitment, the dedication and the flexibility of a large number of UGent'ers, from staff to students. Your commitment, patience and willingness to help us think about this have ensured that together we are on the road to a successful future.

In the coming months, we shall undoubtedly discover flaws in the structure of the new University Services. Anyone who claims that it could be otherwise – that we will not have to make any adjustments – would be deceiving people. Those who demand that thoroughly redesigned University Services function perfectly from day one are asking for the impossible. We must have the courage to recognise that. I am doing so.

So yes, we will monitor what is going well and what is not going so well in the coming year. And we will make adjustments when necessary. This is not just an intention but a promise, which I make on behalf of the entire management.

Like this, we will achieve our goal, which is to make the support provided by the University Services even better and more efficient than it is already, with greater faculty involvement and better cooperation between faculties and the University Services. Furthermore, we will do this with mutual recognition and respect for each other’s roles and jobs.

Opening of the academic year

All that remains for me now is to declare the academic year 2024-2025 officially open.

May it be a year in which we continue to build our future together.

Many thanks for your kind attention.

Rik Van de Walle
Ghent, 20 September 2024