The committee was formed in June to advise the board of the faculty in the development of the UGY plans. The third member of the committee, Tom Wansbeek, decided not to underwrite the interim advice largely due to the timing of it. ‘In his view, an advice like the current one would be of more use when we would know more than we do now.’

FEB dean Harry Garretsen takes pains to stress that ‘UGY [University of Groningen Yantai] is very much work in progress’. However, according to advisory committee members Beppo van Leeuwen and Frans Rutten, insistence on the dynamic nature of the plans ‘is not an acceptable argument’. ‘A project of this scale and long-term impact cannot be launched without a careful and well-founded feasibility study or business case.’

Benefits

The committee breaks down the expected benefits of the campus, namely: better university branding and global visibility; more international students; more research output; more exchange opportunities; and increased cooperation with Dutch and Chinese industry.

The interim advice points out that since Chinese students are already proportionality over-represented in the faculty, increasing the numbers of Chinese students even further is ‘undesirable’ for the faculty.

One of the most frequently stated benefits of the UGY campus is the likelihood of collaboration with and potential job opportunities in the high-tech zone in Yantai, but the committee points out that this is ‘no more than an assumption’ at the moment.

‘Information on industries and research institutes established in Yantai City and Shandong Province is limited to a list of names from which no evidence can be derived about opportunities for fruitful co-operation or commissioned research.’

Business case

The report goes on to analyze the extent to which a true business case has been made or at the very least been provided: ‘a business case sensu stricto is not available and has even been refused on several occasions’, including during meetings with delegations of the Dutch Ministry of Education.

Assertions that the population of the province of Shandong will naturally yield high enrolment numbers have not been properly researched, according to the committee. ‘This expectation is not based on serious research and projected tuition fees have not been tested in the market.’

In light of Chinese regulations against it, the Dutch Ministry of Education had made official statements that the current ruling for students of Dutch branch campuses being required to spend at least one year in the Netherlands will end. But according to the report, even if those changes are made, they would not come into effect until the summer of 2016 at the earliest. That could have implications for recruitment, since the first bachelor classes are scheduled to begin in Yantai in the fall of 2016.

Rational decision making

The character of how the plans have progressed so far was also seen in a negative light. ‘The prevailing impression is that the UGY-plan will be executed whatever happens, unless a major external obstacle arises’, the report reads. ‘This way of proceeding does not leave sufficient room for well-prepared, rational decision making in the interest of UoG and FEB and, consequently, for acceptance and commitment.’

The report acknowledges that the Yantai plans could prove to be ‘an important step forward in the Faculty’s strategic development’. Yet based upon the potential risks and lack of structural guarantees thus far, ‘it feels first and foremost like we take a leap in the dark’.

The report was published on 29 September. RUG spokesperson Gernant Deekens says that the board of directors has not yet given an official reaction to the FEB committee’s findings.

Along with the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, FEB is one of the first RUG faculties whose curriculum is planned to be taught at the branch campus. The FEB faculty board also plans to develop its own business case with the goal of delivering those findings in spring 2016.