Dear colleagues and students,
Over the past few months, I have met many of you. Some of you are incredibly dynamic despite mounting pressures. But others describe being increasingly overworked, or even losing a sense of purpose in their day-to-day work, and this across all the professions that make up the university. All this has a significant impact on our students. We need to take action. Reversing this trend is my main motivation and priority. I am convinced that UCLouvain can only have a future if it is attentive to the people who make up its community, enabling them to study or work in a respectful environment that is conducive to their self-fulfilment and collective well-being. This fulfilment is the necessary condition for us to continue to excel in our missions of education, research, serving society, and meeting the challenges of future transitions.
With some 50 colleagues and through hundreds of meetings, I have drawn up a programme that responds to your concerns, identifies a deliberately limited number of priorities and proposes concrete approaches that consider teams鈥� absorption capacity and available financial resources. These are summarised in the focus areas that you will . I undertake to submit them rapidly to the decision-making bodies if I am elected.
I want a form of governance in which joint planning begins at an early stage, debate has its rightful place, the decision-making process is transparent, and the division of responsibilities is clear. A form of governance that will be exemplary 鈥� I will make sure of that 鈥� and attentive to work-life balance.
With a , in which each sector will be properly represented and equality will be respected, we will put ourselves at your service to build together a UCLouvain that reflects who we are and brings us together.
With all my enthusiasm,
Fran莽oise Smets