'Die zorg droeg voor dit goede verloop'
Authors:   , Nugteren Bastiaan 
Published: September 2024

The dissertation ‘Who ensured this good progress’ (‘Die zorg droeg voor dit goede verloop’) describes the history of the support staff at Utrecht University between 1876 and 2011, and the manner in which their services were organised. The central question in the research was: Under which circumstances and influences did the support at Utrecht University develop in terms of personnel and organisation between 1876 and 2011, and in which manner did this development occur? Special attention was paid to describing and analysing the developments and circumstances pertaining to: 1) the growth in specialist knowledge and the professionalisation of non-academic staff, 2) the professionalisation and normalisation of how the university and its support services were organised, and 3) the modernisation of the university community. The size of the support staff grew along with the university, and fluctuated between 45 and 50% of the total staff. Their numbers grew from a few dozen in 1876 to more than 3,000 in 2011.
Two frameworks were utilised for this description and analysis: a historic framework and a thematic framework focusing on these three areas of development. In addition to general university historiography, the historic framework was also based on the concept of ‘socialisation’ developed by Henry Etzowitz (three academic revolutions) and concepts by people such as science theorists Arie Rip and Michael Gibbons regarding the development of the practice of science. A combination of these concepts resulted in a periodisation for the study. For the thematic framework, a model was created with a number of characteristics that could be used to analyse developments. The characteristic of professionalisation was based on a concept developed by Mirko Noordegraaf; the characteristics related to the modernisation of the organisation were based on the phases of development of management developed by several researchers (Scientific Management, Managerialism, New Public Management and New Public Governance). The development of policy and planning was analysed using a concept suggested by Michael Dooris and Gregory Lozier. The characteristics regarding the development of the university community mainly consisted of the concept of organisational socialisation, as developed by people like Helena Cooper-Thomas and Neil Anderson.
These concepts facilitated the analysis of the developments listed above, and to draw a number of conclusions. In the practice of science and technology and the socialisation of the university, the progressive intensification of the relationships between science, the university and society were clearly influential in the development of the support staff and the organisation of their services. These aspects were described in detail in the study. Under these influences, the duties and responsibilities delegated to support staff continued to expand, and their level of expertise grew apace. For example, in 2010, between 20 and 25% of the support staff could be described as ‘professionals’, where a century before most support staff had no formal education. Following the introduction of the University Governance Reform Act in 1970, the university organisation and especially the organisation of the support staff, was increasingly approached from a business perspective. This was a process of normalisation in comparison to the manner in which large public organisations were organised. Support staff are increasingly involved in the university’s primary processes and operations, which has contributed to them becoming part of the university community.