ScienceGuide secures necessary financial support

ScienceGuide, a website providing news and op-eds about higher education and research, was in dire straits. The platform was in danger of closing down or having to continue behind a paywall. But that is not going to happen.

“Special thanks go to our partner institutions and the ScienceGuide Advisory Board”, says a message on the website, illustrated with a picture of a cake with candles. “Without their contributions and efforts, the platform would have had to close down.”

The partners are several universities of applied sciences and other organisations. They have now been joined by "collective subscribers", which also includes several universities. However, not all of these institutions could be persuaded to support the platform.

In a meeting with the University Council, UU's Executive Board announced that it wouldn't support the news platform. Late last year, the university clashed with ScienceGuide over an article about University College Roosevelt, a branch of Utrecht University. According to the report, UCR is struggling financially. The matter had to be settled in court (article in Dutch only, Ed.).

Opposition
“Recent events have also shown that there is considerable opposition to ScienceGuide in certain boardrooms, allegedly out of dissatisfaction with the journalistic standards of the editorial team”, the editors write. “Of course, our editorial team sometimes makes mistakes and will continue to do so. However, any error will be promptly rectified as soon as it is clear that the reporting is incorrect.”

It is uncertain what will happen in the future. “Whether the ScienceGuide website can remain accessible in the long term depends on the preferences of subscribers and the support the platform receives in the future," says the platform.