Long-term vision rewrite

Welcome to the latest edition of the long term vision survey! First of all, thank you for taking the time to fill this first form in and helping TG write a better long term vision. We will start with a short overview of how this edition is going to work, and then we will get to the long awaited questions for you to fill in. Once you have filled this form in you will get an email, which you can show the board at the residency ("hok" for Dutch speaking) for a free snack!

This survey is part of how we at TG write our long term vision. We start by gathering the opinions of anonymous members on a host of relevant issues by these surveys. Then, an independent committee, the TVcie (that's us), will analyse the results and formulate a series of long term policy pieces on these specific topics. Once they are written, they are presented at the General Members Meeting, where they are voted on. These policies serve as either guidelines or rules to the board when writing their policy for the upcoming year. The last multiple year plan was voted in in June 2024, and we are now starting with rewriting the long term vision for its update in 2027. That way, the long term vision is updated every three years. If you are interested in the current long term vision, there is a version available on the website.

This  is the first survey of the 2027 rewrite of the long term vision. As some of you may remember, the original survey for the 2024 writing was quite a lengthy form. So this time we decided to split it up in three surveys. That way we can spread the work load, giving you more information per topic and allowing you to focus on giving answers without being fatigued. The first one you are reading now, and will tackle allergies, women ratio and feeling welcome. The second one will appear around halfway the second semester of this academic year, and will discuss the magazine, alcohol, promotion, study curriculum and the study sessions. The final survey will be out in Q1 of 2026, which concerns flying policy, the TG car, eating meat at TG activities and collaborations with companies. 

Before we get into the nitty gritty, we would like to know some general things about you, so we can take them into account when analysing the results.

The board's policy on ordering food and allergies is not consistent. Whether or not much attention is paid to this often depends on the dietary requirements and allergies of the board members. Over the past few years, this has been taken into account, but it is important that this remains consistent, even if, for example, no board member has an allergy.

Currently, for all activities where food is ordered, you can indicate on the website whether you have an allergy or dietary requirement, and if so, which one. This is then taken into account as much as possible when ordering food.

If it is not possible to order suitable food for someone, that person can buy their own food for the same amount as the rest and claim it back from TG. This way, everyone gets food for the same price and that person will have something they like to eat.

If dinner is offered at a discount, the same discount is given for each option. This means that not all dishes are priced the same. Allergy safe options that may be more expensive remain more expensive, instead of being subsidised to equalise the price.

At present, there are at least two types of drinks available at all drinks events.

Anti-allergy options can sometimes be more expensive than other options. If dinner is offered at a discount, the same discount is given for each option. This means that not all dishes are priced the same. Anti-allergy options that may be more expensive therefore remain more expensive, instead of being subsidised to equalise the price. For example, each dish may cost €1, but the gluten-free dish may still cost €3. For activities where food is offered free of charge, it may sometimes not be possible to order the same quality of food for the same budget. TG could allocate extra budget for this.

For the past several decades, TG has had a women's committee (DaCie). The percentage of women in the chemical industry and in MST & CE studies is relatively low. In industry, it is 16% (Platform Talent voor Technologie, 2023), in MST studies it is 30-35%, and in CE it is 40% (via Volkert van Steijn). The DaCie's task was to connect the girls within the programmes and the association and to facilitate contact with women in the industry in order to increase these percentages.

The DaCie's tasks included organising the ladies' trip and a number of social evening activities for the girls of TG. The ladies' trip was a weekend trip to a city in the Benelux, which consisted of a company visit, a company dinner (with women from the chemical industry) and a number of fun activities. The evening activities were often “girls” activities (such as painting, high tea, etc.) and sometimes women from the industry were also invited to network.

Despite a large majority of men within the industry, MST and CE, there are approximately equal numbers of active men and women within TG (based on committee members in 2025/2026). In the previous TVcie survey, three-quarters of the members indicated that TG should not interfere with the male/female ratio among active members. Partly because of this and the limited number of TG committee members, it was decided in the 131st board year (2024/2025) to no longer install a DaCie.

Despite the discontinuation of DaCie, it is possible that the board will take on the organisation of some of these activities. In the year 131, the board decided not to organise any social activities specifically for women. They would have liked to organise a career activity for women, but did not get around to it. Board 132 plans to organise a career activity with women from the industry. The idea is that this will also be open to the men of TG.

It is, of course, very important that everyone feels welcome within our association. The previous survey showed that a large group of members believe that TG should do more to make everyone feel welcome at TG. It has been found that members often find it intimidating to walk into the residency. The drinking culture can also be off-putting. Experience has shown that this feeling has existed among various groups of members in recent years, so it is not limited to first-year students, for example. This is something that has been seriously addressed recently, and in order to measure how well that has worked, this topic is included in this survey again. With the questions below, we want to gain insight into how welcome everyone feels at TG. 

Did/do you feel welcome to attend the following activities? Some might not be applicable to you, like a first year bachelor's activity as a master student. In this case fill in "N.A.".

Please complete the expression to confirm you are not a robot, and use digits when answering.