Diversity

Tilburg University has come a long way in how it has valued diversity over the years. In its early days, it was only men who performed research, and it was boys they taught. Meanwhile, however, half the student population is female and, what’s more, they obtain better average grades in shorter time spans. With over a hundred nationalities, moreover, student backgrounds have also become much more diversified. If you take a look at the top, however, you will see a summit that is pretty much white and male. Only one in five professors is female. The first female professor in the Netherlands was Johanna Westerdijk, who was appointed in 1917. It would take until 1973 for the first woman professor to be appointed in Tilburg: Matzy Rood-de Boer. Another top position, that of President of the Executive Board, was first taken by a woman from 1997-2004: this was the politician and administrator [Yvonne van Rooy].

Various approaches

As studies show that diverse teams achieve more and are more innovative, Tilburg University is taking a great many initiatives to foster an inclusive working and studying environment: to achieve a social representation that is more equitable, it is offering special programs, for example, to highly qualified refugees and creating jobs for people with work-limiting disabilities. To recruit excellent female researchers, the Philip Eijlander Diversity Program was launched in 2016. This program was named after the 2008-1015 Rector Magnificus and opens up additional positions for excellent female researchers in all of the University’s five schools. Its track programs are also aiming to accomplish a more equitable male-female ratio in top-ranking positions. And perhaps the day is not far off when one of the University’s buildings will be bearing a woman’s name.