Career development organisation ProActief UvA to close from next month onward
ProActief UvA, the University of Amsterdam’s career centre, will cease operations as of 1 July. Since 1 May, the organisation has already stopped accepting new assignments. ProActief is closing due to “deteriorating financial performance” and “a lack of sufficient future prospects”.
The University of Amsterdam will soon be saying goodbye to career centre ProActief. As of 1 July 2026, the organisation – which was founded around thirty years ago to support UvA employees in their career development – will cease all of its activities. Since 1 May, the organisation has already stopped accepting new assignments.
The UvA separates its public tasks from its commercial activities, which are housed within UvA Ventures Holding. Although the university is the shareholder of this holding company, it remains at arm’s length from the day-to-day operations of its subsidiaries.
A Supervisory Board, appointed by the UvA, oversees the holding company, while decisions regarding individual businesses are made by the holding and the management of the respective subsidiary itself.
ProActief, part of UvA Ventures Holding and therefore affiliated with the university, has concluded that there was “insufficient prospect” of a financially healthy future for the company, despite “various efforts to improve the company’s outlook”. This was stated by the UvA’s Executive Board (CvB) in a letter to the Central Works Council (COR).
Central Works Council
In an unsolicited advisory letter to the Executive Board, the COR had previously expressed concern about the closure of the career centre: “We are deeply concerned about the loss of expertise and public resources when activities are outsourced to external parties, while this knowledge has been present within the organisation for many years,” the council wrote. “We therefore believe that the UvA should take responsibility for ensuring a careful process, preserving knowledge, and acting as a good employer.”
The Executive Board largely rejects this criticism and emphasises that the decision to discontinue ProActief was not a decision of the UvA itself, but of ProActief and UvA Ventures Holding as its shareholder. According to the Board, the university operates at arm’s length from the management of the holding company and its subsidiaries.
Continuity
According to the UvA administration, the continuity of services is safeguarded for the time being. The university is in talks with an external company to take over support related to unemployment benefits (WW) until the end of the year. For guidance in so-called second-track reintegration processes, partners of Zorg van de Zaak will be engaged, while an external career coach will be arranged temporarily for career-related questions. “This creates the time and space needed to find a definitive and more sustainable solution,” the Executive Board stated.
