Dutch Cabinet maintains 1 billion cut to higher education and science

Friday 13 September 2024

The Dutch cabinet presented its government programme today. This is the elaboration of the previously concluded coalition agreement of the political parties PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB, on which the ministers and state secretaries have been working since the coalition was formed, just before the summer. The coalition agreement already included a hefty €1 billion cut in higher education and science. That cut will be maintained. In the presented government agreement, there is a minor change: the Dutch government will not to cut the sector plans, but will stop the starting and stimulus grants. ‘Swapping one cut for another hardly does anything to reduce the overall damage,’ UNL president Caspar van den Berg responded.

Next Tuesday is Budget Day (Prinsjesdag, in Dutch). That is when the budget is traditionally presented. The exact financial basis of the plans should become clear there.

Below, you will find the full response from the umbrella association Universities of the Netherlands.

Cabinet retains €1bn cut to higher education and science

It makes no difference: sector plans retained at expense of grants for young scientists

The government programme shows that the cabinet is going full steam ahead with the historically large cuts in higher education and science. In total, the cuts add up to over one billion euros. UNL president Caspar van den Berg: ‘The cabinet is throwing up its own glasses with this. The cuts in education and research will lead to the Netherlands' earning capacity deteriorating. We will have even bigger labour market shortages, and groundbreaking research from the Netherlands will disappear. That the sector plans remain in place is important, but exchanging one cut for another hardly does any damage overall. It makes no difference.’

The coalition agreement that was presented before the summer already made it clear that unprecedented cuts would be made to universities. Today, Minister Bruins announced that the €215 million cut in sector plans will be exchanged for a €215 million cut in start-up grants and NWO. It also appears that in the Research and Science Fund, hard cuts will be made to large-scale scientific infrastructure, the Regieorgaan Open Science NL and the starting and stimulus grants. One consequence of this will be that more than a thousand scientists will be duped every year by not receiving start-up or incentive grants. The grants give young, talented researchers room for research by, for example, purchasing equipment or appointing a PhD student. Cutting away these grants will again make the foundation of science shaky and put young researchers under great pressure. The long-study fine and cuts related to international students are also included in the coalition programme. Van den Berg: ‘What the minister is doing here is a waistcoat-pocket operation. The one billion cut still stands; this blow to students and staff remains just as big.’

Earlier, it became clear that a large majority (69%) of voters think it is a bad idea that the government wants to cut universities and science. The Draghi report was also released this week, showing that additional investment in education and research is actually needed if Europe and the Netherlands are to remain internationally competitive.

(Translated using DeepL)

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