About Education Governance at WU: Structure, Roles, and Responsibilities
Wageningen University organises its education through a structured, collaborative system. This article explains who is involved, how responsibilities are divided and how curriculum decisions are made.
After reading this article, you will understand how WUR's governance structure is organised, who is responsible for what, and how this affects your day-to-day role as an educator or coordinator.
In this article:
Watch the 5-minute video below to get a visual overview of WUR's governance structure. This article builds on what you see there.
Before you watch: Keep these three questions in mind while watching the video and reading this article. Looking for answers as you go helps you retain and apply what you learn.
- What is the difference between "what" and "how" in WUR's governance, and who is responsible for each?
- As a lecturer or course coordinator, who is your main point of contact, and why?
- What is the role of the Programme Committee, and how does it differ from the Programme Director?
Based on the pre-question effect (Mayer, 2009; Fiorella & Mayer, 2015): guiding questions before learning steer attention and improve comprehension and retention.
Link to the Administrative and Management Regulations of WU, in Dutch: Bestuurs- en Beheersreglement: Goed bestuur | WUR
1. WUR as a single faculty
Wageningen University & Research consists of two parts: Wageningen University and Wageningen Research. This article focuses on Wageningen University, which provides accredited bachelor's and master's programmes.
Wageningen University operates as a single faculty, the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. This is unique in the Netherlands. Instead of dividing the university into multiple faculties with separate rules and structures, everything at WUR operates under one shared academic and administrative framework.
This single-faculty structure means that all programmes share the same:
- Vision for Education
- Assessment policy
- Education and Examination Regulations (EER)
- Study Handbook
This creates consistency and enables close collaboration across disciplines.
2. The Matrix Structure
We work within a matrix structure, which helps balance the demand for education with its supply. This structure connects two key parts of the university. On one side: the Board of Education, Programme Committees, and Programme Directors. They represent the educational programmes and define what education is needed (the demand). On the other side: the Science Groups and their Chair Groups, where the general directors, teaching staff, and researchers are based (the supply).
Five Science Groups (supply)
Each Science Group contains several chair groups. Chair groups employ teachers who develop courses and teach students. They are responsible for the quality of the education they deliver and for ensuring their teaching staff are qualified.
Bachelor's & master's programmes (demand)
Programmes determine what education is needed and which chair groups they ask to teach their courses. The Board of Education governs all programmes and allocates budgets. Chair groups receive payment for the education they provide.
Why this model works: Flexibility without fragmentation
Because programmes are not tied to a single Science Group, they can draw on expertise from all five groups. This makes it straightforward to:
- offer multi- and interdisciplinary courses
- allows programmes to share courses with each other
- gives students access to a wide variety of options.
This does require good coordination, especially when changes in courses have financial consequences for a chair group.
In practice, this means that as a lecturer or course coordinator, you may work within a chair group but teach in programmes across multiple Science Groups. Decisions about course content and quality go through the programme side (demand), while your contract, workload, and professional development sit with your chair group (supply). This can sometimes create tension. For example, when programme needs change but chair group capacity does not. In those cases, coordination happens between the Programme Director and the relevant chair group, often with the Dean of Education involved.
3. Actors, roles, and responsibilities
Quality in WUR degree programmes is a collective effort. Below you find the key actors, what they do, and how they connect to each other.
The governance model distinguishes between 'what' (content and quality decisions, made by the Board of Education) and 'how' (implementation, managed by the Dean of Education and Programme Directors).
Board of Education (BoE)
The Board of Education is the governing body for all bachelor's and master's programmes at WUR. It decides what the programmes look like: their content, quality standards, and direction. The BoE sets the framework within which all programmes operate, allocates budgets to programmes, and appoints the members of Programme Committees. It also advises the Executive Board on matters like starting or stopping programmes and on the Education and Examination Regulations (EER).
The BoE consists of four professors and four students, and is chaired by the Dean of Education.
If a significant change to a programme or course is being considered, it ultimately passes through the BoE. Proposals come from the Programme Director, often after consultation with a course coordinator.
Programme Director (PD)
The Programme Director is responsible for the day-to-day quality of a specific programme. They keep track of whether the programme is running well, propose changes to the curriculum to the Board of Education, and make practical arrangements with chair groups about the content and quality of individual courses. Programme Directors work under the supervision of the Dean of Education and meet regularly with their Programme Committee.
As a lecturer or course coordinator, the Programme Director is your main contact for programme-level questions. If you want to change something in your course, learning outcomes, schedule or assessment, start with them.
Programme Committee (PC)
Each programme, or group of related programmes, has a Programme Committee made up of both students and staff. The PC is the co-participation body of the programme. It advises both the Programme Director and the Board of Education on the quality and content of the programme. Importantly, the Programme Committee also has formal approval or advisory rights on parts of the Education and Examination Regulations (EER).
The PC operates independently from the Programme Director, which means it can raise issues directly with the Board of Education.
Half of the PC members are staff involved in delivering education in the programme, so you may be asked to serve on one. It's a meaningful role: the PC can directly influence programme quality and has formal rights on the EER.
Dean of Education
The Dean of Education leads Education & Student Affairs (ESA) and chairs the Board of Education. The Dean is the link between the Executive Board and the educational organisation. While the BoE decides what, the Dean focuses on how: preparing and implementing educational policy, and supervising the Programme Directors.
The Dean sets university-wide educational policy, like assessment policy, that applies to all courses. The Programme Director reports to the Dean.
Science Groups and Chair Groups
The five Science Groups contain the chair groups where teachers, researchers, and course coordinators are based. Chair groups develop and deliver courses as agreed with Programme Directors. They are responsible for the quality of what they teach and for ensuring their teaching staff are qualified.
Educators are part of a chair group. The chair group is responsible for the quality of the education you deliver, and they receive payment per course via this structure.
Examining Board
WUR has four Examining Boards that together cover all programmes. They are responsible for the quality and integrity of tests and exams. For example, by appointing examiners and making sure examination procedures are followed correctly.
As an examiner, you are formally appointed by the Examining Board. They are your point of contact for questions about assessment rules, fraud cases, or requests for exemptions.
Want to know more? This section gives you the essentials. For a detailed overview of all formal responsibilities and how they are grounded in WUR's Administrative and Management Regulations (Bestuurs- en Beheersreglement, BBR), see the full document: Governance of degree education at Wageningen University (PDF).
4. Key takeaways
- WUR has one faculty with one shared set of frameworks. This creates coherence and enables interdisciplinary collaboration.
- The matrix model connects programme demand to Science Group supply, with chair groups delivering and programmes choosing.
- The Board of Education decides what: the Dean of Education and Programme Directors manage how.
- Programme Committees provide independent advice to both the BoE and the Programme Director, including consent rights on the EER.
- Educational quality is a collective achievement: each actor has a distinct role, but close collaboration is what makes it work.
- As an educator, your day-to-day work is shaped by both your chair group (your employer and teaching base) and the programme(s) you teach in. Understanding who decides what, and who manages how, helps you know where to go when questions or changes arise.
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