EURASHE strongly criticizes the announced cuts in Dutch higher education by new education minister Eppo Bruins. The new administration’s measures, aimed at limiting “excessive internationalization,” put restrictions on the intake of international students and promote Dutch as a language of instruction. Dutch higher education institutions share their concerns. EURASHE stresses that this one-size-fits-all approach could be detrimental to the development of higher education and jeopardize European cooperation.
The plans, first presented in May, include a law called “Balanced Internationalization. This law is intended to cap the number of international students and strengthen the language of Dutch within higher education. The controversial bill aims to restore balance to the Dutch higher education system, given the significant increase in internationalization in recent years.
The Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and other Dutch higher education institutions previously expressed concerns about this bill. EURASHE, the organization representing universities of European applied sciences, fully supports these concerns. They believe there are better ways forward than the proposed overall approach and that the cuts could not only hinder the development of higher education, especially applied education, but also have adverse effects on the interconnected nature of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).
Impact of budget cuts
The new Dutch government has announced a series of financial measures that will profoundly impact universities. The budget for research and science will be cut by €1.1 billion, and the National Growth Fund, which funds research and development, will be abolished entirely. Higher education funding, also known as the “sector plan,” will be cut by €215 million annually.
This drastic reduction in funding is expected to be a hard blow to Dutch universities. Jouke de Vries, interim president of Vereniging Universiteiten van Nederland (UNL), describes the cuts as “a blow to our students and staff who are already under tremendous pressure,” damaging to teaching and research.
Comments from the scientific community
Marcel Levi, chairman of the Knowledge Coalition, expressed concern that Dutch science risks falling behind other research-intensive countries. “As the Netherlands, we will fall further behind if we implement these cuts in knowledge and innovation,” Levi said.
In addition to budget cuts, the new legislation includes measures to reduce the number of international students, such as limiting English-language education and increasing tuition fees for non-EU students. Qualification requirements for the “knowledge migrant scheme” will be “tightened and increased. Levi stressed that universities are severely affected by the elimination of “sector plan” funding, which brought core funding to most disciplines and has resulted in permanent contracts for many university staff over the past two years.
The impact on international students and staff
The planned measures affect not only Dutch students but also the Netherlands’ position as an internationally attractive study destination. “A large proportion of our doctoral students and postdocs are international, and they contribute greatly to our research,” Levi said. This emphasizes international students and researchers’ value for the Dutch scientific climate.
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