Government demands continuation of the student-PhD experiment

Last year, minister Van Engelshoven decided not to extend the experiment with student-PhDs, because not enough universities participated. The fact that the first midway evaluation had yet to take place, didn’t matter, according to her.

The CDA and VVD parties repeatedly objected, but the minister refused to change her mind. Last week, supported by the PVV and SGP, the parties filed a motion to continue the experiment. They say decisions about the future should only be taken after the final evaluation has taken place. The minister stuck to her decision and discouraged the motion.

Confidence
The government now wants universities to have another change to recruit student-PhDs. The question remains whether Van Engelshoven will carry out the motion. CDA congressman Van Der Molen didn’t seem very confident that she would. After the vote, he immediately took the microphone to ask the minister how she will carry out the motion. He expects an answer from her within two weeks.

The discussion about the experiment with student-PhDs has been going on for years. The pilot finally started in 2016 and had room for two thousand PhD students, who aren’t employees of the school but receive subsidies instead. Groningen University and the Erasmus University Rotterdam were the only two parties interested.