Education and research not really a priority for new government

When the Schoof cabinet fell in 2025, D66 launched an optimistic election campaign with the slogan "It is possible". The party, which liked to call itself "the education party", promised additional funding for education and research as opposed to the severe austerity measures imposed by the Schoof cabinet.

The party argued that a more generous budget was necessary across the board, from primary school to university. Using calculations by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) published just before the elections, D66 said it aimed to allocate an additional 5.1 billion euros to education, the highest amount of all the political parties participating in the race.

Winner
Less than three weeks later, D66 emerged as the winner. People assumed that the education sector could pop the champagne, as not only the budget cuts imposed by the previous cabinet would be reversed, but more money would be allocated to the Ministry of Education. The main question was: how much money?

In November, Wouter Koolmees, President of the Dutch Railways (NS) and a prominent D66 figure, recommended that D66 continue to negotiate with the Christian Democrats (CDA). They had to agree on issues such as housing, migration and defence.

But what about education and research? Koolmees mentions his party's alleged priority only indirectly. He said that D66 and CDA had to work together to "create space for economic growth and improve the investment and business climate".

Substantial investment
Under the guidance of CDA leader Sybrand Buma, the two parties drew up a joint agenda, stating that they wanted to make "substantial investments" in knowledge, innovation and research – without specifying what "substantial" meant.

That was understandable. After all, they still had to negotiate with VVD, a right-wing party in favour of austerity, which wanted to cut even more money from the education and research budget. They wanted to reduce the budget even more than the Schoof cabinet, of which they were part, already had: their election programme stated that another 1.5 billion euros had to be cut from the sector.

Still, observers expected VVD to compromise, as politicians do. Moreover, the business community (VVD's main support base) consistently says that more money should be spent on education and research.

Rather meagre
In the end, D66's plans didn't really work out. The austerity measures are being reversed, but that's all. The budget for the sector is actually meagre for a cabinet whose prime minister comes from D66.

The D66 leader, Rob Jetten, set to become the next prime minister, seems to see the glass as half full. "I am personally proud that we are completely reversing the cuts to the education budget," he said on Friday afternoon when presenting the coalition agreement.

Only one conclusion can be drawn when reading the coalition's plans: they have given education little priority. It has been snowed under. Most of the money is going to defence, housing and the nitrogen crisis.

Highest budget achievable
One could defend the coalition by saying that they are cutting funds from other sectors, particularly healthcare and social security. Given the housing crisis and the geopolitical unrest, this education budget was perhaps the highest achievable.

D66 can also argue that education may receive additional funding through the defence budget, as a significant portion of that budget must be allocated to innovation, something universities and universities of applied sciences can benefit from. There is enough money for research into drones, missiles and military applications for AI.

One could even say that this is just an opening bid from the minority coalition. Opposition parties GroenLinks-PvdA and JA21 wanted to allocate more money to education and research than is currently the case, so perhaps there is still room for negotiation.

Relief
D66 has the sympathy of many in the education sector. The sector is relieved that the budget cuts are being reversed. Action groups, interest groups, employers, student organisations... The initial reactions all sound satisfied.

But for how long? Soon, that 1.5 billion euros will have to be distributed. In higher education alone, the budget will have to finance basic student grants, initiatives to promote students' mental health, international talent, and practice-oriented research. Disagreement is likely to erupt quickly. In addition, the ethical objections to military research will soon come.

Therefore, one can predict that the initial enthusiasm will fade away. Even a cabinet with a D66 prime minister will be criticised for its education policy.