At KU Leuven, IT serves education and research, but also day-to-day policy making. How is our country’s oldest university evolving with the latest technological developments? CIO Leen Van Rentergem testifies.

With the official year of birth in 1425, the Catholic University of Leuven can proudly call itself the oldest university in our country and even one of the oldest in the world. When the university opened its doors, the printing press was still 130 years away. Today the world looks completely different, to say the least. CIO Leen Van Rentergem must ensure that the university remains at the cutting edge of technology.

ITdaily: What does the IT environment for which you are responsible look like?

From Rentergem: “In addition to the university, KU Leuven is also part of the KU Leuven Association. This corresponds to almost 120,000 students and 23,000 employees. Our IT environment can be divided into two branches. On the one hand, there is IT for classic business processes such as ERP, communication tools, productivity and security. I also oversee the technology we need for education and research, such as HPC and data lakes.”

“We manage two of our own data centers. A recently renewed fiber optic network connects the buildings. We have a private network and an IoT network for research on campus. In principle we work separately from UZ Leuven, but where possible the basic infrastructure is shared.”

What are your main priorities right now?

From Rentergem: “I think this corresponds to the classic concerns of the CIO. Green IT is an important point for us: the need for IT and data is increasing. How do we provide this in a responsible and environmentally friendly way? Of course, security is also something that keeps everyone awake at night. We also need to ensure good contracts adapted to our needs. Contracts need to be sufficiently flexible, but it is becoming increasingly difficult.”

“As a CIO, you also have to accept the concerns of the organization. In our industry these are often much more complex. Education must become more and more flexible. Not only in terms of time, but also education becomes more independent of the campus. Students take lessons at their own pace and in more flexible ways.”

“IT has to provide enormous support here because there will not necessarily be more teachers. Education continues to be automated in daily practice, but in a human way. It shouldn’t seem strange if more digital tools are used.”

“As far as research is concerned, open science an important thought. This means that research should be transparent and reproducible. Research data must be managed correctly: we apply the principle As open as possible, as closed as necessary. Data is made available where possible, but also adequately protected if necessary. It’s our job to organize this and relieve the burden on the researchers.”

Does the rest of the organization sufficiently understand these challenges? Is everyone on the same page?

From Rentergem: “A few years ago we introduced a new IT governance structure to enable better communication with the business level. We meet with the company every ten weeks to discuss priorities. Consultations with managers take place four times a year to listen to questions and assess their IT impact. It took some time for us to agree, but now there is direct communication in an open atmosphere.”

Education needs to be automated, but in a human way. It shouldn’t feel alienating.

Leen Van Rentergem, CIO KU Leuven

Does your department have sufficient resources and staff to successfully address these challenges?

From Rentergem: “It is well known that education works within a ‘closed framework’. Resources are not indexed or only indexed to a very limited extent. Resources are under pressure and this is shifting to IT. This makes it difficult to balance new challenges with maintaining a healthy IT environment. It’s about thinking carefully, keeping things clear and also having the courage to throw things away.

“The needs will be presented to the University Council in a timely manner and listened to. But we have to work in a context of limited resources. Even on the human side, it is often difficult to find the right profiles.”

Is the future of the IT environment in the cloud, on-premises or a combination?

From Rentergem: “A combination. We have defined our own cloud strategy, which is adjusted every year. We move to the cloud when it offers added value for better integration or makes it easier to collaborate with other universities.”

“We have our own data centers. This means we can still consider on-premises solutions (excluding SAAS solutions). There is less pressure to move to the cloud because of our in-house capabilities and good purchasing behavior. We have high uptime, so moving to the cloud doesn’t always add value. We prefer to keep sensitive research data on-site anyway, just as authentication and credentials prefer to stay on-site when possible. So a combination, but with the current preference to continue working on site if possible.”

We are “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”. Data is made available where possible, but also adequately protected if necessary.

Leen Van Rentergem, CIO KU Leuven

What impact will upcoming laws like NIS2 have on IT policy?

From Rentergem: “We are following this. NIS2 will have an impact because we are covered by it as a legal entity and an educational institution. It’s not entirely clear yet which category we fall into exactly, we’re just trying to figure that out. We also deal with security. We will adopt the NIS2 framework as much as possible, but how we can design this in a decentralized organization and thereby make IT processes auditable will be a challenge.”

How do you deal with the current AI hype?

From Rentergem: “We look at AI in three areas: education, research and policy making. In education and research, there are guidelines for the correct use of AI that determine what is possible and what is not. The technology itself is nothing new, as AI has been used in scientific research for at least fifteen years. In business operations, we are primarily concerned with AI models that are integrated into software, but also with how we can implement the models ourselves.”

“We will only use AI where it really offers added value in order to work more efficiently, make processes run more smoothly and enable 24/7 services.” We first follow a checklist: where is the data located, how is data used and on which models was the tool used? Then one follows Proof of concept and if it is overall positive, broader implementation will follow.”

“As far as the Green IT story is concerned, I think we as a university should take a critical look at it. AI is not the “greenest” technology. I believe in the potential of AI, but only if it is used in the right place. We have to be careful not to exaggerate and warm the earth even more when it is not necessary.”

Finally, what trends are you following with a view to the next three years?

From Rentergem: “This is in line with the priorities I mentioned earlier. AI moves faster than light. I have a great personal interest in everything to do with Green IT, how we build and implement our data centers responsibly and how we can recover heat. There’s also the security aspect of AI: How do hackers use it and how can we respond to it?”

“From my own environment, I am also following how we can deal with digital certificates in the European context. We exchange students with universities from other countries, but this always involves an enormous amount of paperwork. For example, we could work with digital Wallets where students bring the diplomas they have earned. The technology is there, but it will be important to choose the right implementation with privacy in mind on purpose is deeply rooted. We are watching this closely as this could be a crucial factor in enabling more flexible education.”

In the “CIO Speaks” section, we talk to CIOs about how they deal with day-to-day IT politics and how they look at technological trends. You can find all interviews here.