7.4 Digitalization
Whereas 2021 was all about scaling up improved or new IT facilities for working from home, 2022 was all about securing and further optimizing our services. The IT organization continued to invest in managing and securing workstations and supporting blended conferencing. Further habituation to working from home and the blended education situation ensued. This was visible in a significant decrease (20%) in the number of requests for support at the help desk (2022: 28,600 requests for support).
For several years, Tilburg University has been running a dedicated program to improve IT security. As threats from the outside world continue to increase, it is also necessary to take increasingly far-reaching measures to ensure our security. On the one hand, these are technical measures, for example aimed at further access security. On the other hand, this concerns awareness among employees and students. Promotional campaigns helped raise awareness of information security among our employees and students. This topic is—also in the coming years—high on Tilburg University's priority list.
The IT organization made a major contribution to several renovations and the establishment of a new sustainable data center. The contribution to setting up audiovisual support for blended education was also substantial.
In addition to the aforementioned projects and substantiating our services, 2022 also saw the first steps in changing the organizational model by means of domain managers for the digitalization agendas of education, research, and business operations.
In 2022, further efforts were made regarding the strategy, course, and direction in relation to digitalization of education, research, and business operations. In other areas, such as organizational structure, technology choices, policies, processes and procedures, and leadership, the first steps were taken in relation to the Library & IT Services Division.
Education support
IT infrastructure supports blended education in an increasing number of ways. Deploying solutions that enable blended education allows for more optimal use of blended education. Part of this is providing an increasing number of knowledge clips and podcasts.
Research support
2022 is the year of the establishment of the Tilburg University Digital Competence Center. Supported by an NWO grant, we are building the optimal digital research environment to fully facilitate and support our university's cutting-edge research. For example, we organized an R course for PhD researchers, supported the first researchers with their digitalization issues in an interdisciplinary team of specialists, and sought a national connection in themes such as data management and research software engineering. The already existing infrastructure also received due attention. Together with researchers, we worked on the further development of our research registration system, launched new services for our data management infrastructure, and ensured that open publishing became even easier. We also launched the spearhead Research Infrastructure in 2022.
Library
On September 5, 2022, the Tilburg University Library officially reopened after a thorough renovatioh. This included 120 additional study spaces, hybrid workspaces, and workstations for users with visual impairments. Campus poet Trijntje van de Wouw wrote a beautiful poem for the occasion, which was given a special place within the library. The library is now once again a vibrant environment where students can meet and also study in peace and quiet, and it is a place where we welcome between 600 and 900 visitors every day. The Brabant Collection acquired the Schellens photograph collection, a wonderful addition to the existing photograph collections of other Brabant photographers. Tilburg University Library received a large donation from emeritus Prof. Alting von Geusau in the field of international relations, part of which was included by Academic Heritage. In addition, part of the historical children's book collection of Buijnsters-Smets has been digitized and is now available online.
