From January 2017, institute staff can apply to the new fund, to which the executive board will allocate 250,000 euros a year. ‘The fund facilitates the collaboration between Wageningen Research and university education, contributing in the process to One Wageningen,’ says the board.
Hiring staff from Wageningen Research to teach on courses has proven difficult. They are obliged to charge an integral hourly rate which is higher than that offered for teaching. The fund stipulates that the institute staff member should teach for no longer than three months. Other arrangements exist for a longer period of teaching, says the education institute. The fund is a result of the strategic planning round of 2014, when the executive board did the rounds of all the science groups. DLO staff indicated then that they could not teach at Wageninen University because of internal barriers.