New UvA Dean for Economics and Business: ‘We Can Come Better’

Photo: Ruben Den Harder

Roll Beatsma

How did you get relocated from Van Diesel?

“He did not give me a paper exchange or anything, it’s not his style. He talked a few times about the problems going on here and introduced me to the workshop and student council. From those conversations I concluded that Han left the system in good condition.

How did the first six weeks as a dean go?

‘Very good. Of course I have been working for a long time, but I found that I still do not know things. 450 FTEs work here. So you don’t know everything. For example, I am not yet familiar with Amsterdam Business School (ABS) and I do not know how we are organized in such a comprehensive way. For the past few weeks I have been walking roughly through building E and M, knocking on many doors to chat, and sometimes hearing about very interesting research. I’m already put researchers together a few times and I do not know if they are doing similar research. ‘

What kind of film did you have about the teen office?

“I thought I was going to be the manager of EB, but apparently I did not. A manager has a bit more role to play, I hope. Shortly after I took office, the university secretary said,” Now you are the director. “A director has a slightly broader vision than the manager. I believe, a director is interested in strategy. That’s the question of where you want to go as an organization. ‘

சுடுகாடு. Where do you want to go with EB?

“My ancestors left a good company, but I think we have more potential than we have ever shown. We can and should be even better. We are in a good financial position. It makes everything easier because it allows us to invest. We invest in the climate economy, Rick van der Blog has been appointed professor at the University for this purpose and we will continue to invest in areas such as operations research, (large) data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, where we have already added good ones.

Where do you want to go in education?

‘I would like to focus more on digital & mixed learning and on the one hand greater collaboration between the School of Economics (ASE) and the School of Business (ABS) and on the other hand greater collaboration with other faculties.’

How important is competitiveness to EB?

‘It’s important, but I’m not comparing ourselves to Harvard. That is not realistic. But that does not mean we are not well. I look at the rankings, but I also see its limitations. It is always about the criteria used in such lists. Sometimes these are based entirely on economic research, sometimes the research is more comprehensive and still ends up on the same list.

Maybe not Harvard, but the European top?

‘I think EB is in the top 10 in Europe. Because we have a good reputation and are located in Amsterdam we can bring amazingly good people. You belong to one of the leading European economic faculties, including EB’s role in public discussion, scientific journals, and collaborations with valuable external partners such as the National Netherlands. ‘