The assessment of our cooperation in education and research is therefore being tightened in 2025. The existing assessment framework for external cooperation will be expanded and a set of new guidelines should help individual staff members assess what risks, if any, are attached to a partnership. The expansion of the assessment framework and guidelines will be based on broad input from the entire UvA community.
Finalising guidelines and assessment framework
The final draft of the new guidelines was submitted to the central council for advice in December 2024. The University Education Committee, University Research Committee, University Valorisation Committee and Senate have previously responded to it.
Based on all these reactions and advice, guidelines and assessment framework will be finalised in the foreseeable future, after which the Executive Board will adopt them. From then on, new and existing collaborations can be tested more rigorously on a structural basis.
Application of new guidelines
Once adopted, the new guidelines and extended assessment framework must prevent the UvA from contributing to the following through education or research
- violation of human rights
- misuse of knowledge for undesirable military purposes
- serious damage to the environment
Until now, the assessment framework only covered cooperation with the fossil industry and knowledge security. The new instruments will also provide better tools for critically assessing institutional collaborations: research within consortia (such as Horizon 2020), student exchanges and collaborations with companies. A joint paper, presentation at a conference, guest lecturer or internship do not count as an institutional collaboration.
An important principle of assessment according to the new guidelines is that assessment never focuses on an entire country or institute: only individual collaborations are assessed.
