Towards Strategic Framework 2018-2024

In developing the strategic framework for the period 2018-2024, the input from a wide variety of stakeholders was essential. The interaction with stakeholders - our staff, students, alumni as well as partners outside the university – has been organized in three phases, in total almost 600 people took actively part in this process. A calendar with a selection of the activities organised in the process of developing the Strategic Framework 2018-2024, can be found here.

  • Phase 1: Advice
  • Phase 2: Consultation
  • Phase 3: Decision making process

Phase 1: Advice

As a first step, the Executive Board has established a dozen of Strategic Advisory Groups. These groups represented a balanced mix of expertise between established and relatively new members (e.g. Academic Career Track) of our organization and have advised the Board on a number of specific themes:

  • Students and Education
  • Research
  • Valorisation
  • People
  • Internationalisation
  • Open Science
  • Alumni and Branding
  • Support Services
  • Estates
  • Finance
  • Business Intelligence
  • Risk & Compliance

The work of the Advisory Groups has been launched at the Kick-off meeting on the 18th of January. On April 10, the Advisory Groups convened again on a final working conference, discussing the outcomes of the various groups and reflecting on a possible synthesis of their pieces of advice.

You will find the names of the 85 members of the Advisory Groups here.

Phase 2: Consultation

Upon consultation of the twelve internal advisory groups, we worked towards a draft strategy. In this process a broad group of stakeholders was involved. We discussed the first ideas for the draft strategy among others with the department heads, deans, directors and the Board of Professors. The most important activities in the Consultation Phase were the Open Meetings in the period May-June: interactive, small-scale meetings that each addressed a specific strategic theme. During those meetings we discussed the draft-strategy with everyone interested: students, PhD’s, (scientific)staff, alumni but also our business partners or members of our regional network. Discussions took place in small groups and in the typical TU Delft way: ‘not just talking, but doing’. The meetings were led by the president of the executive board, Tim van der Hagen.

An impression of Open Meetings 1 to 4 can be found here , an impression of Open Meetings 5 to 9 can be found here

During the Open Meetings several participants were interviewed to portrait the people and ideas behind the new strategy. Those portraits are displayed in a portrait gallery

Phase 3: Decision making process

Following on from the recommendations formulated in the consultation period, the draft strategy is further refined, adjusted and advanced. The result was thereafter discussed with the Works Council and Student Council. On the basis of those discussions the draft text has been completed. After the approval of this text by both councils and the endorsement of the document by the Supervisory Board, the Strategic Framework 2018-2024 was formally decided upon by the Executive Board. 

As a matter of fact, the real work actually starts now: the implementation. Now we will together give shape to the direction anchored in the framework. To begin with, the deans and directors have been asked what the Strategic Framework comprises for them: how can their faculty or service contribute to develop and concretise the objectives? We hope to soon be able to show the first results on this website. 

Correspondence in Delta

President of the executive board Tim van der Hagen invited on this website everyone to join the discussion on the future of the TU Delft. Delta-columnist Dap Hartmann accepted this invitation. The correspondence that followed covered the future of the university but also music and good books. You can read the correspondence of Dap and Tim (in Dutch) here.