Aukje Hassoldt: ‘It would be good if a transfer like this would become normal’

Five years ago, you arrived at a faculty that had not had a permanent dean for a long time. What do you remember about that time?

“I was the sixth dean in five years. That said, I did not think there was that much turmoil. The people had simply gone on with their work, the atmosphere was good and people were very keen. I however did observe certain things and I started working on them.

One of these was social safety, which is also an issue now of course. We have recently circulated a draft social safety plan for TPM at the Faculty. One of the things it says is that we talk to each other and do so respectfully, and we do not talk about each other. I saw the latter also happening about five years ago once in a while. We are working on it together.”

What is the biggest change that you have brought about?

“One of the things that I am most proud of is that we invested in developing management capacity. We made sure that everyone who will have a management position in the future builds up enough experience beforehand.

Take section heads for example. They are an important layer at the Faculty. They usually manage 30 to 50 people. If you suddenly have to do this with no experience, it can be hard. So it is useful if you have already led a lab before, done big projects, or have been on committees. This helps you to understand how the Faculty is best managed. We consciously ask people for certain committees or teams. And we see these people now take on leadership roles.”

The Faculty has grown a lot in recent years. How did this happen?

“We grew from 300 to 400 FTEs (full-time equivalents, Eds.). Why? If a Faculty doesn’t have  a Dean for a while, people are wary about hiring new colleagues. As a Dean, I can represent the faculty to the outside world, be they ministries, large companies, international partners, or other universities. Building up a network like this is useful in opening doors. You also need to make sure that there is someone at the ready to step through that door.”

‘Now is the time to think about greater efficiency’

You were a member of the social safety project organisation that led the creation of the Plan for Change. How did you experience this period?

“It was both a tough and a good period. It may sound a bit odd, but I had never had so many open personal conversations before. A lot of things surfaced. People started to share what they had experienced and started to take me into their confidence.”

What did you hear about your own Faculty?

“There is undesirable behaviour in every group of people quickly. So you need to be quite alert and active as a manager. The most desirable situation is for managers and staff members to have a relationship of trust. This is why the section head role is so important. I utilize all sorts of pathways to hear about what is going on, like through the Personnel Committee, faculty employee lunches, at the coffee machine, in the canteen etc. Naturally people can also approach a confidential advisor or an ombuds functionary. The important thing is that they know how to reach out.”

It was recently decided that the Campus The Hague project, where TPM now runs one master degree programme, will be extended and expanded. Why does the Faculty want this?

“We – TU Delft wide – are slowly and steadily building things up in The Hague. There is a good, quite large team there, and there is education and research. This is useful as it makes TU Delft’s knowledge more accessible to the governmental sector. Of course Delft is close to The Hague, but in The Hague you see people running between the ministries all day long. So that short train journey to and from Delft is not handy.

Our Master’s degree programme in The Hague has a little under 100 students every year, so there are about 200 students there in total. Work is now being done on three new masters. There will be place for 700 students at the new location.”

Things are tight for TU Delft financially, and budget cut plans are in the making. How is this affecting TPM?

“Just like every faculty in the Netherlands, we have work to do on this. It is no different at my new place of work. It is important to say this as this was not a reason for me to leave. We called on everyone to be careful about expenditures at TPM. We already foresaw this in the spring of 2023, so we have been working on it for some time. We only fill in new vacancies if they are crucial. This is not the same as stopping all vacancies, but we are being careful.

We question each other critically in the MT (management team, Eds.). We have looked everywhere if things can be done more efficiently. All in all, this year we have managed to save almost EUR 1 million and we will continue down this road. These are not easy issues. People have often done their work in a certain way for a long time and we are all attached to our comfort zones. Yet, now is the time to think about greater efficiency.”

‘As we have strengthened the management capacity, there are more than enough people at the ready’

It sounds as though you still have a lot to do. You have only worked on your second term for a year. Why are you leaving?

“Before summer, I had the feeling that the Faculty was doing really well and thought that I would start looking around sometime in 2025. But then this vacancy turned up. I was brought up in  Government service’s vision that you ideally change jobs every five years. Three years is too short, five years is good, and seven years is too long.

Are you not concerned that it will be another six years before there is another permanent Dean?

“As we have strengthened the management capacity, there are more than enough people at the ready. We can probably find talent in the outside world too. Sabine Roeser will be  the acting Dean for the near future. She has enough experience as a section head and department chair. This Faculty is very resilient.

It’s not about me, about the Dean. I have always been interested in how people collaborate. Departments and sections should not be silos, do they collaborate? How is the information flowing, is it a smooth process? What do we consider important in terms of social safety, diversity and inclusion? What do we see as important research subjects? How are our educational activities going? How is it going with HR?

In terms of management style, I am not ‘a control freak’. It’s impossible anyway. If you manage such a big group, you need to be certain that you are all on the same page, share the same vision. If you manage to achieve this, you can leave the faculty without worry.”

What is your shared direction for TPM?

“The big societal issues are getting more and more of a technical component. At the same time, there are a lot of stakeholders, regulations, systems and cultures. Our Faculty specialises in bringing about transitions in these kinds of complex socio-technical systems. This means that you need to thoroughly understand both the technical side as well as the social side. We have strengthened three subjects over the last few years: the energy transition and climate; the digital society; and, health. We look at these through three lenses: system, governance and values.”

Over the last two years you were the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the HollandPTC proton therapy clinic. This is a TU Delft spin-off and a project in which TU Delft has invested millions as a shareholder. How can you monitor this independently as a Dean? You are after all working under the same Executive Board that started this company.

“Yes, one can ask questions about this and that is why from now on the Supervisory Board will not involve a Dean anymore. This was the usual practice at HollandPTC from the start. I am leaving the supervisory board now as I do not think I will be able to combine this position with the Rotterdam School of Management.”

The NRC newspaper wrote a critical article this year about the millions that TU Delft is pouring into Holland PTC while the number of patients remains below the number forecast and the research is leading to few publications. What did you think of the article?

“HollandPTC is not performing as badly as is stated in the article. The clinic is now almost at breakeven point. It is not yet completely there, but it is a really amazing organisation. It is a scale-up where 100 people work and it has very high patient satisfaction and quality of care scores. I think it is impressive that they have kept their heads and are continuing working on them.”

‘I enjoy listening to people’

In the announcement of your departure, the Rector said that we are looking into how you could play a bridging role between TU Delft and Rotterdam. Is this about the collaboration between Erasmus University, Erasmus MC and TU Delft (‘convergence’), or about the Campus Rotterdam?

“Campus Rotterdam is TU Delft in Rotterdam, so is TU Delft. I will work at Erasmus University and at the RSM, so convergence will be the logical framework.”

Was the bridging function your idea and how will you do it?

“Yes, I think it would be great to create a combination. Erasmus University, the Erasmus MC and TU Delft are aligned, and in terms of competition, hardly encroach on each other’s fields of work. We can benefit a lot from each other. We would achieve our convergence goals faster if we would discuss our differences more, for example which systems we are each applying to distribute the governmental contributions internally. I am not sure exactly how I will be able to help. This will not be an official role. It is more that I know the routes here well and will learn them well there.

I’m very much looking forward to it, to get started and learn to understand RSM thoroughly. I want to know what kind of group the people are and what is important for them. I enjoy listening to people, for example to learn how the world of international business schools operates.”

So you will be at TU Delft occasionally in the future?

“I have had five really wonderful years, so I would like to come back every so often. It would be good if a transfer like this would become normal.”