New cabinet: cuts to higher education scrapped

"I'm proud that we are completely reversing the cuts to the education budget," said D66 leader Rob Jetten on Friday afternoon, during the presentation of the coalition agreement with CDA and VVD. The document is titled “Getting started – building a better Netherlands”.

The three parties are allocating an additional 1.5 billion euros for education and research. However, they want to accomplish a lot with that sum. It will be spent on vocational education, initiatives to improve overall education quality, combating the teacher shortage, and strengthening the Education Inspectorate, among other goals. That money also includes "investments in research and science and in students' purchasing power."

Known as an "education-friendly party", D66 wanted to increase the spending on education and research by several billion euros, but had to let that go for the sake of the negotiations. CDA and VVD apparently did not agree with the idea.

More purchasing power for students
Much remains unclear in the agreement. Take students' purchasing power, for example. The document states that the basic grant for students not living with their parents will increase, but it doesn't specify by how much.

The three parties also intend to introduce a compulsory internship allowance, with a possible internship fund for sectors facing shortages (companies that are short of cash). But no one knows how much that allowance will be.

They also promise to cap the interest rate on student loans at 2.5 per cent, so that student debt cannot rise unchecked in the future. Repayment should be made easier through employers, so that former students can pay off their debts more quickly.

In addition, the three parties aim to "invest in students' mental health and resilience", without specifying how. "Educational institutions will be given the space to provide support and deploy student psychologists," the agreement reads. The document also states that the government will "actively encourage initiatives by students and young people."

Internationalisation is much less of a problem
The parties have also reached an agreement on international students and scientists. They want to attract "top scientific talent", which is deemed necessary for groundbreaking research and innovation.

They also expressed the intention to use the internationalisation of Dutch higher education to attract professionals "from the sectors facing the greatest challenges", such as ICT and technology, but perhaps also healthcare. But these are not the only sectors facing labour shortages. 

So, it looks like English-taught programmes are no longer a problem for the coalition. The three parties have agreed to maintain the current range of courses offered in other languages. They are even scrapping the previously announced test to define whether new programmes need to be taught in other languages. This is good news for the Economics programme in Utrecht and the Psychology and Business Administration programmes at other universities: the decision to scrap these English-taught programmes has been revoked.

How do the three parties intend to control the influx of international students, then? They say this goal will be reached through “binding administrative agreements” with universities and universities of applied sciences.

The importance of each region will weigh heavily in this decision. “Universities need international talent to retain business and knowledge clusters in the region,” the three parties state. “We are giving them room to do so.” They cite Brainport Eindhoven, Wageningen Food Valley and Noviotech Campus in Nijmegen as examples.

Additionally, the new cabinet aims to make funding for senior secondary vocational education (MBO) and higher professional education (HBO) stable and predictable. "Institutions will become less vulnerable and dependent on fluctuations in student intake", the document reads. Apparently, this does not apply to research universities.

National assessment of teacher training programmes
There will be "a solid foundation" for teacher training, the parties write. "Teachers and academics will jointly determine the core curriculum at the national level, with more attention being paid to basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic."

In addition, teacher training programmes will have the same examinations. "The same assessment will apply to teacher training programmes nationwide, so that every new teacher has the same solid foundation."

Lifelong learning will receive more funding
Continuing education is also included in the agreement. These are courses for workers who either need to switch to a different sector or brush up on their skills.

The new cabinet wants to allocate 100 million euros to this purpose. The exact measures still need to be worked out in detail, but universities of applied sciences – which are seeing a decline in student numbers – have been lobbying for years for additional funds for this type of education.

Defence
The education budget is almost negligible compared to the defence budget. However, universities of applied sciences and research universities could also benefit from the defence budget, as the three parties aim to have the government, the business community and knowledge institutions work together.

"The cabinet is committed to establishing a defence innovation authority to secure our technological lead," the agreement states. "This authority will also co-finance joint research projects with knowledge institutions that are of added military value to the Ministry of Defence." This will be funded by "up to 10 per cent of the defence budget", which could amount to roughly two billion euros.

Austerity
Ultimately, citizens and businesses will have to pay a "freedom contribution" of five billion euros. One way or another, everyone will have to dig into their pockets.

The cabinet also wants to cut healthcare deductibles by 6 billion euros and reduce the maximum duration of unemployment benefits from 2 years to 1 year. In addition, from 2033 onwards, Dutch people will have to work longer before they receive their state pension.

Not set in stone
Together, D66, CDA and VVD have 66 seats in the House of Representatives, ten short of a majority. This means they will have to seek support from the opposition for all their plans. The coalition agreement is not set in stone.

In some areas, the cabinet may be able to work with the left-wing party GroenLinks-PvdA, while other issues may be coordinated with right-wing parties such as JA21 and SGP, which together have enough seats to help the cabinet achieve a majority.

The coalition negotiations were led by informateur Rianne Letschert, who is also the president of Maastricht University. There is a chance that she will soon be leaving Maastricht for The Hague.

Letschert hopes that the future ministers will seek broad societal support for their plans, she said when presenting her final report to the House of Representatives. It will take a lot of effort, in her view. "I advise them to buy a good coffee machine."

The House of Representatives will debate her final report and the agreement next week. Jetten will then be appointed as formateur and can start putting together the new cabinet, in which he will become prime minister.

"This coalition agreement is good news for education and science, for us at Utrecht University and for knowledge institutions in a broader sense," says UU President Hans Brug on the UU website. “As has often been emphasised in recent years, investments in science and innovation are essential to enable social change. I am pleased that the parties forming the coalition are committed to this. For Utrecht University and other Dutch educational institutions, I hope this will give us the peace of mind to refocus on our core tasks: education, research and social impact.”