Since last year, the UvA has been working on new guidelines allowing for external collaborations to be more extensively assessed. The specific aim of the new guidelines is to prevent the UvA from contributing to violations of human rights, misuse of knowledge for undesirable military purposes or serious damage to the environment through educational or research collaborations. Parallel to that process, the permanent Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties has issued advice on three specific cases. 

Only individual collaborations assessed

According to the new guidelines, the assessment of collaborations is never aimed at an entire country or institution: only individual collaborations are assessed. The decision-making on the three cases in question therefore only applies to these three specific collaborations. 

1. PhDs from the China Scholarship Council (CSC)  

The committee had no objection to the extension of this collaboration but advised that risk-mitigating measures be taken. These measures must guarantee academic freedom, knowledge security, data privacy and the safety of PhD candidates. The Executive Board will follow this advice and, taking these measures into account, will work towards a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the CSC. 

2. Student exchange with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

The committee offered a negative advice on the continuation of this collaboration. If risk-reducing measures can be implemented, the committee is prepared to re-examine the issue. The Executive Board will follow this advice. In the upcoming period, whether a renewed agreement will be designed - and with which risk-reducing measures - will be explored. Any new agreement will be submitted to the Committee again for advice. 

3. Collaboration with Hungarian institutions on the EU sanctions list  

The committee advised that collaborations with Hungarian institutions that have been excluded by the EU from participating in Erasmus and HorizonEurope, such as Pannonia and HU-rizon, should not be entered into. The Executive Board will follow this advice and will not enter into any collaborations with these institutions. Any future collaborations remain subject to the sanctions policy of the European Commission and will be reassessed by the advisory committee. 

Peter-Paul Verbeek: ‘New guidelines essential’  

Rector Peter-Paul Verbeek: ‘As a university, we stand for open collaborations and exchanges, and we want to shape them in a responsible manner. At the moment, these three specific collaborations have problematic aspects, which the assessment committee has pointed out to us. That is why we will not be continuing them in their current form for the time being.'

'We want to protect knowledge security and not run the risk of contributing to human rights violations, but also ensure we do not exclude entire countries. That requires a tailor-made approach, and that is why collaborations are always assessed individually. It is important that we complete our new assessment guidelines – which are now with the participation body for advice – as soon as possible.’