Dossiers
Nothing about social media is social anymore, observes Alex Nedelcu. Chatbots are replacing friends, and AI models are fragmenting our interactions, driving us even further apart.
The care for TU staff has been sufficiently restored, the Education Inspectorate concluded this spring, but the annual reports from confidential advisers, ombudsmen and the social safety reporting point show a tough reality on the ground. Reports remain numerous and complex, and often revolve around the same structural problems: leadership, dependency and a lack of clarity within the system itself.
Trade unions AOb and FNV are calling for a 6-percent pay rise at universities, and for salaries to automatically rise in line with inflation from now on. They also want to improve the situation for pregnant employees.
In addition to all the developments in Delft, work on Campus Rotterdam is continuing at full speed. The Executive Board has hired an external consultancy firm and the programme team will move into the Groot Handelsgebouw (literally the big trade building) in Rotterdam.
Sander Otte observes that it is not only in the United States, but also in the Netherlands, that politicians are emerging who would prefer to control what is researched and published. He sees only one remedy against autocratic politicians who are launching an attack on science: speaking out forcefully.
Prospective buyers need to be quick to get hold of a secondhand jewel at OWee’s first secondhand market. But it may not work for everyone: “I see a lot of good things! But I don’t have a room so I can’t buy anything yet.”
