Page 8 - aruba-today-20201105

a8 local
Thursday 5 November 2020
A must to earn trust: Focusing on transparency

University of Aruba (UA) publishes annual reports 2018-2019 on website ua.aw

government is not an out- maybe a public discus- ternet facilities. Mayerova
rageous amount. We show sion about if we should do van Veen affirms, “Digital
exactly how we spend this, some things differently or if transformation and blend-
and people will see it is not anything is lacking.” They ed learning were already
about big salary pays, but worked very hard to catch on the 2019 agenda.”
about investing in innova- up with the year reports
tions and improvements to because due to an unfore- For the year 2020, the bud-
assure that the level of edu- seen issue in 2007 UA was get had to be redone be-
cation is in line with the de- running behind and it took cause government fund-
gree that you are getting.” quite some time to get ing was decreased by 12.6
Mayerova van Veen adds, where they are now. Arens percent, and required in-
the report’s goal is also to adds “Year Report 2021 will vestments in hardware and
gain credibility of partners. be ready to be published in software were not always
the first half of the (coming) in line with the budget.
What year.” Arens asserts, “Now we
ORANJESTAD — Being “The annual report is basi- are discussing if this a tem-
transparent shows commit- Why cally a showcase of every- Institutional goal porary situation or will this
ment to fiscal responsibility An annual report is a thing that the university did The backbone of the stra- be permanent, and which
and what’s best for students chance to set the record for the year and made on tegic plan and vision for parts do we want to incor-
attending your school. “We straight when it comes to the calendar year, not on 2021-2026 will be com- porate in future plans and
are very happy to be able accounting for all the costs the academic year. Every pletely aligned with the how does that affect our
to publish our annual re- incurred providing valu- company should make an goals and objectives to strategic plans. We are in
ports 2018-2019 on our able services to students. annual report, unfortunate- obtain the Institutional a very fluid situation.” The
website. If you work with Arens expresses, “there ly this is not always the case Accreditation by NVAO biggest planning for 2021 is
public finances you need might be some miscon- on Aruba,” states Mayero- (Dutch-Flemish Accredita- the renovation of the Maria
to be transparent how you ceptions about UA on the va van Veen. 90 percent tion Organization). Arens: Convent, a next-door mon-
spend that money,” says island; like about the pro- of the universities funding “For all our programs we umental building that will
Patrick Arens, Business Di- grams we offer, how much comes from the govern- have obtained accredita- be used among others for
rector at the University of money we get and what ment, and in her opinion it tions or positive visits from housing laboratories for the
Aruba. Together, with Fi- we do with it. Showing this is good to show where the NVAO in the last couple Sustainable Island Solutions
nance Manager Iveta all in an academic report tax payer’s money is going of years. Now we are look- through science, Technol-
Mayerova van Veen, he allows us to express how to. “But also to show if we ing into the institution itself, ogy,
elaborates on why it is so much we are actually do- are in line with good gov- as in good governance,
important to be open dur- ing, and that the money ernance, in line with other transparency, facilities and Engineering and Math-
ing these times. we receive from Aruba’s institutions and to create finances. And that is an ematics (SISSTEM). “On the
accreditation that each other side we will not be
higher education institu- renting office spaces any-
tion likes to obtain.” He also more, the focus is on the
stressess that this is a mul- quality of the programs
tiple year’s plan because and the institutions itself.”
you need to be organized Mayerova van Veen re-
on all levels and be able to veals, “For 2021 we have no
show this as well. “The UA is idea what is possible from
growing and we still have the government’s point of
some steps to take but the view, so how much money
institutional accreditation do we get but we also do
is a goal we built towards not know for example how
to. We are on our way to much we will be doing on-
achieve.” line and what is the finan-
cial impact. Longer term
Pandemic impact we still expect to some as-
Arens jokes that UA was pect to go back to normal
preparing for Covid19 be- or what that is supposed
fore it was even here, refer- to be.” Most importantly is
ring to the 2019 investments that UA is focusing on inno-
made in the digital infra- vations and improvements
structure of the UA. “Three and their goal is to be com-
blended learning rooms, a pletely open about this by
recording and editing stu- showing their spending into
dio, upgrading the WIFI en- detail in the published an-
vironment, investing in soft- nual report. Curious about
ware and hardware for our the report, check: https://
lecturers and improving the www.ua.aw/annual-re-
outdoor facilities with elec- ports. If you want to learn
tricity poles and better WIFI more about the Univer-
are some realizations we sity of Aruba and what we
had planned before the have to offer, hop in on
pandemic hit us.” The UA our platform and connect
is supported also by Dutch with our staff and students:
funding to upgrade their in- www.ua.aw. q