The institute for the post-academic education of Radboud University has run its course. The Radboud Academy will discontinue. The four existing institutes for post-academic education will start working together more closely. Interim director Pim van Zanen states that this is not a reorganisation. ‘A small organisational shift at most.’

It was announced back in November 2023 that Radboud Academy, the post-academic training programme from the university in Nijmegen, had to save 20 percent in budget cuts and had to leave Huize Heyendael. Departing employees were also not replaced.

Plan for the future

Pim van Zanen, director of Marketing & Communication at Radboud University, was assigned to create a plan for the future of Radboud Academy. That plan has now been finalized, explains Van Zanen in a meeting room in the Berchmanianum.

Concretely, Radboud Academy will cease to exist as a separate entity. The workshops offered by Radboud Academy will be transferred to one of the four existing centres for post-academic training: the Radboud Centre Social Sciences, the Centre for Postgraduate Legal Education, Radboud In’to Languages, and the Radboud Management Academy.

Radboud Academy already collaborated with these centres, but they had their own selection as well, explains Van Zanen. ‘But as the team got smaller, the coordination of the workshops often fell into the hands of a single person. If someone was ill or went on a holiday, it sometimes got tight. The other centres are bigger, so we can be more assured that we can achieve our goals.’

No reorganisation

Radboud Academy’s seven remaining employees will work elsewhere for post-academic training – including the departments of Marketing & Communication, Academic Affairs, and the For the Curious programme. It is not a reorganisation, according to Van Zanen. ‘It is a small organisational shift at most. Radboud Academy was a temporary programme. We have now embedded that in the organisation. The only cutback we have had is that we did not replace the employees who left voluntarily. It did become a smaller club.’

‘Only the Radboud Management Academy isn’t self-sufficient’

Three of the four post-academic educational centres have good numbers to show. Only the Radboud Management Academy has some issues: the Business Administration programme was not offered this year. Van Zanen: ‘The Radboud Management Academy is the only one not self-sufficient, but is currently reinventing itself to make that a possibility in the future.’

Greenlight

The Executive Board has already given a green light to the plan, showing Van Zanen that Lifelong Learning is still an important goal for the university. ‘In all the cutbacks that are coming our way, the Executive Board continues their support for this programme.’

Van Zanen is also already looking further ahead. ‘In time, we could possibly organise a bigger, university-wide programme for Lifelong Learning, for example by involving the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies. If we are successful in this, it could bring in extra income for Radboud University.’

Translated by Milou Aluy-van der Meij