Executive Board Vice Chair Rob Mudde leaves for health reasons

Rob Mudde will step down as Vice-Rector Magnificus and Vice President of Education one year before his official retirement. The Executive Board member says that he has had health issues since the start of last year. Over the next few months, the Supervisory Board will seek a successor. Mudde will stay on as Professor and will still teach.

In its announcement issued on Thursday afternoon, the Executive Board says that Mudde is aware that his departure ‘comes at an unfortunate time, when social safety deserves all our attention’. Mudde has been absent more often than the other members of the Executive Board in the meetings on social safety. In the two months since the Inspectorate of Education’s report was issued, his Board colleagues Marien van der Meer and Tim van der Hagen were the ones who spoke most frequently.

In the announcement, Mudde emphasises that ‘this difficult decision was not taken overnight. It has been on my mind for some time’. In the email, he states that ‘my work has felt and still feels like a great privilege. But, in part because of the medical advice, I can do nothing other than conclude that I am no longer able to fulfil my role with the same level of energy.’ He did not give any further details about his health.

‘We will miss our mate’

In a meeting with the Works Council (OR) and the Student Council on Thursday, Executive Board member Marien van der Meer said that she was moved. “Rob is a wonderful human being who is highly concerned about students and colleagues. We will miss our mate.” Mudde was unable to attend that meeting.

Ronald Kuil (OR Chair) viewed Mudde ‘as a pleasant person to work with in the Executive Board’, he informed Delta after the meeting. “We want to express our appreciation for the time that he served in the Executive Board.” In a statement, the Student Council Chair Jelle Stap calls Mudde an ‘example’. While they sometimes had ‘heavy discussions’, he says that the Student Council never doubted ‘Rob’s dedication and leadership’ and the meetings were ‘open, constructive and pleasant’. Stap says that Mudde had ‘an eye for the wider development of students and showed sincere involvement in the student community’.

Career

When Mudde took office as Vice President of Education in March 2018, he already had a long career at TU Delft behind him. After earning his doctorate at the University of Leiden in 1989, he headed to TU Delft. In 2001, he became the Professor of Multiphase Flow (Applied Sciences, AS). From 2006 to 2016 he was the Director of Education at AS.

In that role, Mudde was known for his – sometimes harsh – statements about students. He believed that they should ask themselves more often why they actually came to TU Delft. “I think most students work less hard than most of the academics here” he said to Delta in 2016 when he left his position as Director of Education (in Dutch).

He believed that students ‘do not fully realise … that learning is easier when you are young. So that they can study, they do not need to work’. This is a privilege that should be expressed in ambition, says Mudde.

Something other than excellence

He adjusted his tone in his double role of Vice-Rector Magnificus and Vice President of Education in the Executive Board. In contrast to his predecessor Anka Mulder, he sees little benefit in the entry requirement of a grade of seven in mathematics B for high school graduates. Nevertheless, ambition remained an important aspect to him, he told Delta when he was appointed. “I still believe that the students that come to TU Delft should be ambitious students. ‘Ambitious’ is an important concept and it is different to excelling.”

During the Covid pandemic, Mudde defined the transition to online teaching that then started. Student well-being also went up the agenda. He repeatedly urged students to ‘act in accordance with the authorities’ recommendations’. He does his best to maintain contact with students, although a degree of pushing his ideas of ambition was never far away. “If you’re tired of Netflix after a couple of days, grab a course book or the Collegerama. Use this time productively.”

More than 70 hour work weeks

Mudde also demands a lot of himself. In 2017, before he became an Executive Board member, he told Delta (in Dutch) that he did not mind having worked more than 70 hours a week over the last 15 years. “I have a lot to do and do not necessarily see this as a heavy workload. I have hobbies and I am paid. This is a personal thing.”

‘I am looking forward to once again welcoming a new year of students’

Two weeks after that conversation, a letter submitted (in Dutch) by the then future Vice-Rector Magnificus appears on the Delta website. In this letter, Mudde addresses the students. “I am keenly awaiting a student supervisor to say that indeed, the students could be more ambitious and that TU Delft students do everything.” To him, the keywords are ambition, discipline, drive.

Not defend students in any way

Mudde also regularly intervened in non-educational subjects. When problems caused by students in the Wippolder neighbourhood reached a climax in 2021 because of the many lockdowns, Mudde called their behaviour ‘antisocial’. “TU Delft abhors this antisocial behaviour. I’m not going to sweep it under the carpet. I will not defend students in any way in this issue. They don’t always deserve it.”

In the interview, he calls on people in Delft to report any excessive disorderly behaviour. “Report it and we will discuss it with our students. Should a situation really get out of hand, I will put my good suit on and drop by myself.”

But Mudde would rather see the students taking the initiative themselves. He believes that students have to take control themselves, and he emphasises this in the monthly meetings with the Student Council. For example about cases of transgressive behaviour at student associations, he says ‘to bring about change, initiatives (on dealing with undesirable behaviour, Eds.) that come from students themselves are the most powerful.’ He prioritises ambition and self-reliance.

Mudde will remain in office until after the start of the new academic year. In the Executive Board’s announcement, he says “I would not want to miss the start of the academic year for anything. I am looking forward to once again welcoming a new year of students to TU Delft.”