Strategy

As a society, we face major challenges. They call on us to think and act as global citizens. We look at issues from different perspectives and interests, and we recognise that our actions have consequences for other people and for society as a whole.

Through A Broader Mind, we work together and look beyond the boundaries of our degree programmes and disciplines. Our comprehensive university and compact campus foster collaboration between students, staff and partners. With all these different fields, interests and perspectives, we serve as a place to practise global citizenship and to foster constructive dialogue.

Science knows no borders. We are involved in issues at local, regional, national and global levels, because they influence one another. Our staff and students are active in international networks and partnerships. We value and promote multilingualism, diversity and intercultural competence.

We invest in development and dialogue so that we remain engaged with a rapidly changing world. We recognise that our actions have impact, and we employ our knowledge and values to contribute to a better world. We use our own freedom to safeguard the freedom of others.

We support and encourage staff and students to engage in dialogue with both courage and gentleness, in a critical and respectful way. Through the Mixed Classroom Model for students and Mixed Model for employees, we learn from each other’s perspectives and enrich our own views. In this way, we use diversity as a strength, arrive at new and surprising insights, and find healthy, sustainable and just solutions.

Our campus serves as a testing ground for sustainable innovation. Our education and research focus on three domains: health and well-being, climate and environment, and justice and resilience. This broad approach aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as well as our role as coordinator of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network Netherlands. We also build new partnerships, at home and abroad, with organisations dedicated to scientific diplomacy and peacebuilding.

Every year, thousands of graduates enter the world carrying their knowledge, as well as VU Amsterdam’s ethos and strong connectivity skills. They show what can be achieved when people are open to other perspectives and engage actively in dialogue. Our partners in dynamic networks experience the same positive effects of having many voices at the table – and how dialogue can take the place of polarisation. That’s how we make a world of difference.

We remain a leader through our innovative and distinctive education, and our open and accessible research. These increase our impact on both society and science.

We educate our students to be free thinkers who, as global citizens with A Broader Mind, contribute to solutions to complex societal challenges. This is our ambition for education.

We want to make a difference in society. We encourage our students to view the world with a broad perspective. At the same time, we equip them with the tools to be agile professionals, so that they can apply their expertise to current issues.

We aim to achieve our educational ambition through three objectives:

1. We offer a portfolio of degree programmes that meet the needs of society and science.
2. We prepare our students for a rapidly changing world with state-of-the-art technologies, the latest educational insights and up-to-date content.
3. We support the continuous growth of professionals and civil society partners with a distinctive offering for lifelong learning.

VU Amsterdam conducts open and accessible scientific research to find responsible solutions to complex issues. This is our ambition for research.

We aim to achieve our research ambition through three objectives:

1. We work together as researchers in dynamic networks to find solutions that improve health and well-being, tackle climate change and environmental challenges, and create a just and resilient society.
2. We have an open attitude and conduct accessible science responsibly and with integrity. 
3. We provide inspiring supervision and effective support for our strategic research at both national and international level.

By 2030, VU Amsterdam will have a distinctive profile as a catalyst for socially responsible solutions with and for the world – solutions rooted in academic research and education. This is our ambition for valorisation and impact.

We aim to achieve our valorisation and impact ambition through three objectives:

1. We embed valorisation firmly in career development and financial policy.
2. We promote an entrepreneurial mindset that generates new partnerships and funding. 
3. We’re an internationally recognised, pioneering hub of knowledge and impact, making a difference through VU Amsterdam initiatives such as start-ups and social enterprises.

We structure our organisation in a way that enables us to achieve our ambitions for education, research, valorisation and impact. Through our talent development policy, operations, services and campus, we focus above all on productive collaboration. We’re a diverse community that seeks to draw on everyone’s knowledge, skills, insights and perspectives. We’re smart in our use of digital technologies and financial resources, as drivers to strengthen our core tasks, operations and services.

Talent development policy

Everyone counts. We harness all the available talent that contributes to our organisational goals, with a particular focus on teamwork. This is our ambition for talent development.

We aim to achieve our talent development ambition through two objectives:

1. We oversee the further implementation and adoption of Recognition & Rewards, and we provide career development paths for all VU Amsterdam staff that converge in teams. Teamwork and development as a team are actively encouraged.
2. We place the right people in the right positions, centred around the work context and contribution to the bigger picture.

Operations and services

We enable excellence and optimal collaboration, by advising and supporting students, lecturers and researchers in a professional manner. We do this by making the interplay between the primary process and its support more effective and efficient, thereby strengthening it. This is our ambition for operations and services.

We aim to achieve our operations and services ambition through two objectives:

1. We ensure integrated services based on the outcomes of the VUture programme.
2. We foster execution power and ownership in all our activities.

Campus

Our campus is a place of connection and innovation – a place where all research disciplines come together in a diverse academic community. With so many passionate free thinkers within just one square kilometre, we want to make the most of the advantages and opportunities that our uniquely compact campus offers for connection and innovation. This is our ambition for the campus.

We aim to achieve our campus ambition through two objectives:

1. We ensure that the campus is a diverse, inclusive and (as far as possible) accessible place for study and transformative dialogue, with space for both physical and hybrid collaboration and interaction.
2. We ensure that the campus is a place where everyone feels at home. Together, we stand for safety in every respect, with social safety and academic freedom at the forefront.

Digital technologies

We want to use digital technologies – especially AI – as a driver for our core tasks, operations and services. We connect AI knowledge and application, strengthen AI literacy, e-security and privacy for staff and students, and promote campus-wide collaboration for AI innovations. We apply data-driven and responsible AI use in our operations and services.

Finance

Our financial policy is aimed at enabling excellent education and research, and at creating the best possible conditions for valorisation and impact. Our ambition is to be, and remain, a financially healthy organisation, in which the financial decisions we make add value to our core tasks. Of course, we comply with current and future requirements from government, society and other financial stakeholders when it comes to financial accountability, control, transparency, and laws and regulations.

1. We aim to achieve our financial ambitions through two objectives:
2. We are shifting from registration to analysis, using data and indicators as the basis for meaningful dialogue.
3. As a university, we’re a frontrunner when it comes to accountability for sustainability.