Dutch Research Council and open science to get less money too

The coalition programme has finally been published. Both the minister and the state secretary of Education, Culture and Science admit in a press release that they will have to make drastic cuts to their budgets. “That is painful and makes it necessary to make sharp choices.”

The cutbacks — which amount to almost a billion euros and affect students, teachers and researchers — had already been announced in the outline agreement concluded by coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB.

One change was leaked last week. The ministry has decided to leave the national sector plans alone after all as they are related to 1,200 jobs. Research universities were threatening to take the matter to court.

Instead, the cabinet is cutting the starter and incentive grants for scientists, which were intended to lighten the workload. Umbrella organisation Universities of the Netherlands scornfully refers to this as merely shifting the problem.

Internationalisation
The cabinet still wants to reduce migration, including student migration. “For every Dutch student going abroad, six international students come to the Netherlands.” To the parties in the coalition, this is a problem that generates housing shortages, “overflowing lecture halls” and “high pressure on teachers”.

One of the measures they intend to implement is reducing the "anglicisation" of Dutch higher education. Exceptions will be made “for the natural sciences and technology”, however. “Regional circumstances” may also be taken into consideration. According to the government, if fewer internationals move to the Netherlands, this will save about 293 million euros.

Slow-progress fine
Another plan is to fine students who take "too long" to graduate. This is expected to bring in more than 280 million euros annually, but the cabinet can’t say much just yet. The idea is that students will pay 3,000 euros extra in tuition fees if they take longer than one additional year to finish their Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Once again, exceptions will be made, so the cabinet wants to talk to higher education institutions and students to define what these will be. “This would involve a broad discussion about feasibility and how institutions and students can prevent delays.”

Open science
In addition, there will be less money available for "large-scale scientific infrastructure", such as instruments and facilities that universities would never afford on their own but are important for science in the Netherlands.

Funding for Regieorgaan Open Science NL will also be decreased. Open science is a movement to make the fruits of research, such as data and articles, accessible to everyone.

Research funding body NWO will have to make cutbacks as well, although the cabinet hasn’t mentioned any figures so far. These may be announced on Tuesday, when the budget for next year will be officially presented. NWO is uneasy about the situation. “This causes us great concern”, reads an initial reaction.

Stable funding
Even though the cabinet is making drastic cuts, it also aims to make funding more stable: “For one thing, we are working towards types of capacity funding for higher education institutions”, the programme says.

This means funding will focus less on the number of students, making sure that programmes won’t have to make cuts right away if they’re shrinking. This can also help keep educational offerings in areas facing depopulation up to scratch. However, the plan still needs to be fleshed out further, as a new system like this comes with many snags and catches.

A few shifts of emphasis the cabinet is making could also be considered new. Vocational colleges and higher education institutions are getting a duty of care for social safety, so they can be held accountable more easily in case of problems.

Concession for unlucky students
The cabinet also wants an extra concession for the students belonging to the so-called "bad luck generation", i.e. those who missed out on the basic student grant. About 1.4 billion euros has been earmarked for this.

This doesn’t placate the Dutch Student Union. “This coalition programme strikes a crushing blow to higher education in the Netherlands”, says chair Abdelkader Karbache. “The younger generations in our country will be ruined by the cutbacks this cabinet is planning to make. So there’s only one thing left: Major protests!”