Digital sovereignty will be a key theme in Radboud University's new strategy. The Executive Board writes this in response to the call from staff and students for the university to become independent of big tech within three years.

The Executive Board of Radboud University recognises the urgency to address the university’s dependence on large tech companies. This is expressed in its response to an open letter in which the authors advocate disconnecting the university from big tech within three years.

More than six hundred signatories of that call argued that dependence on big tech companies like Microsoft365 poses risks to privacy, security and academic freedom.

Digital sovereignty will now be an important theme in the university’s new strategy. To shape this strategy, the university will work with faculties, divisions and partners within SURF.

According to the Executive Board, there is an urgent need to make choices, partly because of “restricted access to academic data in the United States on certain research topics.” Recently, websites with data from climate scientists went (temporarily) offline in the US.

Security

In its response, the Executive Board also elaborates on its considerations for certain ICT solutions. Security is very important in this, particularly the question whether ICT suppliers can adequately protect scientific research data. In that respect, the university considers big tech solutions such as Microsoft 365 to be “highly secure”.

Trust in the ICT supplier and the country in which it is based is also important to Radboud University. Since Donald Trump’s rise to power in the United States, for example, there have been fears that he will use big tech as leverage to push geopolitical rivals in a particular direction. “This could have a potentially significant impact and extends beyond just the university’s data,” according to the Executive Board. “It also concerns the availability of critical software and safeguarding our public values in it.”

Large companies can come under the influence of a state actor. We then need to ask whether that actor can be trusted.

Another example in which Donald Trump plays a role: European legislation states that personal data cannot be stored outside Europe without specific arrangements. Several legal agreements between the EU and the US on sending data have been declared invalid by the European Court in the past.

The most recent arrangement, the Transatlantic Data Privacy Framework, signed by former US president Joe Biden, is in danger of being scrapped by his successor. With no independent body which can make binding rulings in this or similar conflicts, the university seems to be aware that there is only one solution: digital sovereignty.

‘Different path’

Jaap-Henk Hoepman, the initiator of the open letter, tells Vox that he is pleased with the Executive Board’s extensive response. According to Hoepman, the Executive Board accepts that continuing along the current path is no longer an option. ‘There are also calls at other universities to take a different path towards more digital autonomy. The national government and several municipalities are also taking the first steps in the right direction. We are not alone in this, so we can face this challenge together.’

‘Really good alternatives to big tech exist, also here at our university’

Hoepman is disappointed that the Executive Board has not yet announced more concrete steps. The Associate Professor of Digital Privacy also misses a broader reflection on the public importance of autonomy within university education. ‘Really good alternatives to big tech exist, also here at our university. Those alternatives must remain on the agenda and not be subject of austerity cuts. On the contrary, we need to build on them. We are therefore happy to accept the Executive Board’s invitation to embark on a constructive exchange of ideas.’