UU students and staff will book trips through digital platform

The platform must be up and running on January 1. The platform should resemble the commercial online ticket providers that UU staff currently use to book their trips. 

This new way of working offers several advantages for the university, such as highlighting the cheapest travel options in search results. It should also make it easier to pay for trips by linking the platform to the university’s systems, eliminating the need for staff to claim expenses retrospectively.

Furthermore, the university hopes the new platform will give it a better overview of the costs associated with staff’s international travel. In 2024, UU staff claimed 5 million euros for travel and accommodation expenses. Given the uncertain geopolitical situation, the university also considers it important to know where travelling staff members are.

Sustainability considerations were just as important to the university. Thanks to the new platform, UU will soon know how much CO₂ its staff is emitting when flying, something the university has been striving to achieve for almost ten years.

An in-house booking platform also offers the opportunity to inform staff when their travels must be made by train rather than by plane, according to the travel policy. This rule applies to journeys of less than 700 kilometres or 8 hours. Therefore, the platform will also include train travel options.

No travel agency
The University Council had long believed that the university had to do more to encourage its staff to travel more sustainably. They initially proposed setting up a travel agency, which all staff would be obliged to use. According to the UU Executive Board, previous experiences with similar schemes had been less than satisfactory (memo accessible only to users with a Solis ID, Ed.). However, many staff members at Groningen University are pleased with the digital platform that allows them to arrange their own trips.

The UU Executive Board has now launched a tender process for the new platform. Shortly before the summer break, the University Council expressed its satisfaction with the proposal. It also hoped that train travel recommendations would go beyond simply linking to NS International or Deutsche Bahn. They also believe train travel should be offered even for journeys exceeding 700 kilometres.

Furthermore, the Council would like staff not to be permitted to book journeys that do not comply with UU's travel policy. Such bookings should only be permitted with a manager’s authorisation. In addition, the university should monitor whether managers are granting such authorisations too easily

The Executive Board does not seem willing to go that far. In a response given during a Council meeting, UU President Hans Brug said he wished to rely on the goodwill of staff and managers for the time being.

The Council also proposed launching a campaign to highlight the need for more sustainable travel, citing a recent Amsterdam study showing that CO₂ emissions from researchers travelling by plane are only increasing, despite policy measures aimed at countering this.