1. Our students and staff
Almost 25,000 students
As of 1 October, 24,678 students were enrolled at Radboud University, an increase of 2.4% over the previous year. While the university is not pursuing quantitative growth (focusing instead on ensuring that the right students end up in the right place), the number of students has increased by 17.7% over the past five years and 31.8% over the past ten years.
The number of new students enrolling in a Bachelor’s, Master’s or pre-Master’s programme at Radboud University has decreased for the first time since 2015 (-0.9%) and is now at 9,249. However, there was still considerable growth (+14.1%) over a five-year period. The slight decrease pertains mainly to first-year Bachelor’s students, while an increase can be seen in the number of Master’s students. The total number of international students increased by 24.8% this year and now stands at 2,656.
Radboud Student Award
The Radboud Student Award was presented to Merel van Bommel and the board of the Radboud Creative Collective this year. This annual prize is for students or student collectives who, in addition to their study programme, have made a special contribution to the academic community.
Merel van Bommel, a Master’s student in Arts & Culture with a minor in Gender & Diversity, has been making an important contribution towards fostering an inclusive environment at the Faculty of Arts and strengthening the interconnectedness of international students and staff and other students and staff for several years now.
The Radboud Creative Collective (RCC) is a fairly new, ambitious and inspiring student association. The founders (Sophie Theunissen, Bo Polman, Rick van Nuland, Thijs Kersten and alumna Jodi Bel) have quickly created a collective of more than 20 students who can be deployed across the campus for photography, illustration, design, presentation, social media, text, video and web design. At the same time, RCC offers students the opportunity to develop their talents and develop personally and professionally in a student job.
Radboud University Bronze Medal
The student awards were presented during the university’s Founder's Day (Dies Natalis) in October, where two staff members were also awarded the Radboud University Bronze Medal. The first recipient was Peter van Dijk, who started on campus 50 years ago as an instrument maker and glass blower, and then worked as facilities account manager at the Molecular Chemistry cluster, which has become the epicentre of the department. The second recipient was Roland Laan, Professor of Development of Medical Education and director of Radboud university medical center’s Health Academy (RHA). He was recognised for his service to the organisation and innovation in education, not only at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, but also across the entire university and in medical education nationally.
Royal distinctions
On King’s Day, eight professors from Radboud University and Radboud university medical center received royal distinctions. These were René ten Bos (Philosophy of Management Sciences), Jan Buitelaar (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), Béatrice van der Heijden (Business Administration, in particular Strategic Human Resource Management), Nicoline Hoogerbrugge (Hereditary Cancer), Angélique Janssens (Historical Demography), Hans de Kroon (Experimental Plant Ecology), Jolanda de Vries (Translational Tumour Immunology), and Koos van der Velden (Professor Emeritus of Public Health). The first seven were accepted into the Order of Orange-Nassau (for exceptional services to society). Van der Velden was knighted in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, an award for services to the sciences and the arts.
Ranking of favourite employers
Radboud University is once again in the top 100 favourite employers in the Netherlands, up 15 places on the annual list published by Intermediair. Radboud University is in 75th place, the second university on the list. The top 100 is compiled based on an open question at the beginning of the annual Intermediair Image Survey. The 4,500 survey respondents are asked to name the three companies they would most like to work for.
Recruitment of new employees
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There were 606 job vacancies published in 2021, an increase of 40% compared to 2020. 51% of the vacancies were for academic staff positions, and the other 49% were for support staff positions. The increase in vacancies was largely due to the additional NPO resources.
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547 vacancies were filled with a selected candidate. 50 vacancies (8%) were closed with no suitable candidate, which is an increase of 1%. This is likely the result of an increasingly tight job market.
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647 candidates were selected. This number differs from the number of employees hired because people can also come in through other channels.
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We had 22,363 applicants, 4% of whom were internal (a 1% decrease).
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A relatively large number of women were hired: 48% of applicants were women, as were 61% of the selected candidates.
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26% of the selected candidates were internal candidates (a 4% increase).
Staff development
Educational elements were started more than 5,000 times on the online learning platform gROW. (That means someone following an e-learning module, registered for an event, read an article or watched a video.) On average, 125 educational elements were started per day in each work week. There were 3,600 unique employees on the platform in 2021 (versus 1,100 in 2019).
354 training sessions and/or events were offered in 2021 and they attracted 3,800 registrations/ participants. 291 training sessions and/or events were conducted online (with 2,981 participants). There were also in-person training sessions and/or events (819 participants). Finally, 947 e-learning modules were followed through gROW.
The three offerings with the most registrations were:
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Extended Teaching Qualification (ETQ); 1,670 registrations, 900 of which came from Radboud university medical center)
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Vitality (437 registrations for one of the workshops, webinars or training sessions)
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Leadership (410 participants in the training sessions, peer consultations, workshops and webinars)
Permanent and temporary employees
In 2021, our staff consisted of 5,886 FTEs. Of that number, 3,343 FTEs were academic staff and 2,534 FTEs were support staff.
Of the academic staff (excluding the PhD and postdoc categories), about 75% (1,239 FTEs) were permanent employees. A significant part of the group of temporary employees has been appointed for less than a year and has the potential of becoming permanent.
Staff in the PhD and postdoc categories (1,680 FTEs) are, by definition, temporarily employed due to the nature of their work.
Of the support staff, about 22% (555 FTEs) were temporary employees. A significant number of them have the prospect of a permanent contract after one year of employment.
Managing post-employment benefit expenses
Despite the decrease in the sickness absenteeism percentage, the health and well-being of staff continue to receive attention at all levels of the organisation. The university places a high priority on sustainable employability and devotes continuous attention to the well-being and development of our staff.
Radboud University is the risk-bearer for the Sickness Benefits Act (ZW), the Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (WIA), and unemployment insurance (WW). Robidus is our service provider for the ZW and WIA. They take over part of the case management, which they perform on behalf of Radboud University. The Human Resources (HR) division is responsible for monitoring this.
The HR division is responsible for overseeing and monitoring WW. In 2022, the division expects to bring in an external service provider that will carry out case management on behalf of the university.
