Strategy

The Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health (AJSPH) was founded in March 2018 by the faculties of the University of Groningen, the University Medical Center Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen. The AJSPH’s primary mission of ‘more healthy years’ gives substance to ‘healthy ageing’, the strategic theme of its three parent organizations. The goal is to foster links between researchers and lecturers within knowledge institutions on the one hand and between knowledge institutions and society on the other. In this way, the AJSPH is helping to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 1, which – for the Dutch context – is specified in greater detail in the Health Mission of the Mission-driven Innovation Policy.

The AJSPH’s operational strategy involves giving concrete shape to the parent organizations’ strategies and working out the details. In effect, this means that in the period from 2021 to 2026, the AJSPH’s role within the University of the North will be that of a School that gives substance to the theme of health, as envisaged in the preparatory documents for the University of Groningen’s new Strategic Plan. In addition, the AJSPH will contribute to the development of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres’ (NFU) plan, entitled Onderzoek en Innovatie met en voor de Gezonde Regio (Research and Innovation with and for the Healthy Region). The AJSPH will also contribute to the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen’s strategic plan, which is based on the Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS3). The operational strategy is also reflected in other fields. In the context of internationalization, for example, the AJSPH is helping to give substance to the health aspects of strategic alliances (e.g. with ENLIGHT, the University of Oldenburg, the University of Copenhagen and with universities in Latin America) and to give concrete shape to interfaculty and interinstitutional educational cooperation. Here, formal responsibility always rests with the original parties.

As a networking organization that interconnects its parent organizations, the AJSPH has an overarching role between the various health centres and health institutions within institutions and faculties (e.g. the Centre for Public Health in Economics & Business, the Centre of Expertise Healthy Ageing, the Centre for Health & Humanities, etc.). The AJSPH interconnects these centres and institutes within a framework of teaching and research, and facilitates joint valorization and innovation with partners from society, both public and private, and with members of the public.

In the run-up to the summer of 2020, the Committee of Deans and the Board of the University of Groningen pledged further funding for the AJSPH for the period from 2021 to 2026. Against that background, this plan outlines the AJSPH’s development strategy for the upcoming period. It explores the areas of teaching, research, innovation and society, in addition to describing the strategy’s financial foundation and outlining the process of further refining the strategy.