Utrecht Veterinary Dean Debbie Jaarsma to Lead Groningen University

Debbie Jaarsma, dean of Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine since 2021, will leave next year to become president of the University of Groningen — becoming the first woman to hold that post while Groningen confrontates a €45 million savings target by 2030.

Jaarsma is currently in her second term as dean. Her route to Utrecht ran through Groningen itself, where she spent seven years as Professor of Research & Innovation in Medical Education before moving to Utrecht in 2021. Her return now places her at the top of the institution where her Dutch academic career in medical education took shape.

She arrives at a difficult moment. According to the Groningen university magazine Ukrai... according to Ukrant, the university must cut a total of €45 million by 2030. Several departments face possible closure, including the University Museum, the School Students' Academy, and the Green Office. That fiscal pressure will define her first years in office.

What did she build in Utrecht?

When Jaarsma took the deanship in 2021, the veterinary faculty had just completed a major downsizing that sharply reduced its number of departments. She inherited a leaner organization and, by her own account, leaves a stronger one.

In a statement published on Utrecht University's website, Jaarsma said she is proud of the faculty's recent progress. "We now introduce our students to professional practice earlier in their studies, which offers many advantages. Our research is making an impact, thus making us more visible to the outside world and more closely connected to society. I'm looking forward to my new challenge in Groningen, but I am leaving this unique faculty with a sense of wistfulness."

The two concrete changes she claims are early clinical exposure in the curriculum and research with stronger societal visibility. Both matter to practitioners: earlier professional practice contact shapes how job-ready new graduates are when they enter clinics, and a faculty more connected to society tends to produce research the profession can actually use.

Her appointment in 2021 made her the first woman to serve as dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Her move to Groningen makes her the first woman to preside over that university — two institutional firsts in a single career.

What happens next at Utrecht?

UU President Hans Brug acknowledged the loss directly. "We are going to miss Debbie's qualities and collegiality immensely. I wish her all the best in Groningen, and look forward to working with her as a fellow president," Brug said.

His wording signals a continued working relationship between the two universities at the executive level, rather than a clean break. The question of who succeeds Jaarsma as dean — and whether the faculty continues its current curriculum and research trajectory — remains open.

Why Groningen wanted her

Jaarsma framed her decision in terms of breadth. "The breadth of the University of Groningen and its strong ties to the Northern Netherlands particularly appeal to me. From engineering and medicine to the social sciences and humanities, that combination offers huge opportunities to tackle societal issues," she told Ukrai... she told Ukrant.

The takeaway for the veterinary profession: one of Europe's prominent veterinary faculties loses a dean who stabilized it after restructuring, and Dutch higher education gains a president tasked with managing one of its largest financial consolidation programs.