Leuven (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Severine Vermeire becomes KU Leuven’s first female rector in 600 years, focusing on diversity, mental health, and workload. She aims to create a supportive, inclusive academic environment.
As VRT News reports, KU Leuven, which has been around for 600 years, has chosen Severine Vermeire as its new rector, making her the first woman to hold this position. Vermeire wants to be a role model, especially for young women, and she hopes to inspire students and scholars to aim for leadership roles.
She also wants the university to be more diverse, pointing out that while many women are students and researchers, fewer are in higher academic positions. She believes this underrepresentation needs to change so that universities can be truly inclusive and welcoming to everyone.
“All too often, boards of directors are still too white and male,
Vermeire confirms.
If you think that something should and must change, then you should not stand on the sidelines. It is important that you take the helm yourself.”
How will Severine Vermeire transform KU Leuven in 100 days?
Severine Vermeire, the new leader of KU Leuven, is making big changes. She’s focusing on 2 main things in her first 100 days: helping people with their workload and taking care of their mental health. She mentioned that a survey at the university showed that many staff members are unhappy because they have too much work and feel stressed.
Vermeire wants to fix this. She plans to make it easier to get things done, help people better balance work and life, and offer more support for mental well-being. Her goal is to make the university a healthier place for everyone.
Severine Vermeire is especially worried about the heavy workload and the mental health of the staff. To help, she will hire someone to focus on these issues full-time. This new person, a vice-rector for human resources, will make reducing the workload their top job. By giving more importance to human resources, she hopes to change how KU Leuven cares for its researchers, professors, and other staff members.
“It’s a small step from caring for patients and my team to caring for the university”
Severine Vermeire
Severine Vermeire wants to connect KU Leuven with the outside world. She knows some people think the university is too exclusive and wants to change that. She wants the university and its professors to be more involved in the community. She believes professors should be more visible and talk more outside of the university.
Vermeire herself has a background in both expertise and service; she was a doctor at UZ Leuven. She mentioned that becoming rector wasn’t a quick decision for her; it took her almost 2 years to decide.
For Vermeire, this new role is a continuation of her career, where she moves from caring for patients to caring for the entire university. Her leadership style is based on empathy and public involvement, and she hopes to make academia more inclusive, open, and connected to the needs of everyone.
“Many patients also responded enthusiastically,”
Says Vermeire,
“I have received many nice messages from patients who really wish me well and say: ‘you have taken care of us for so long, now you take care of the university’, that is one of the nicest statements for me to embrace this job with both arms.”
