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On September 2, hundreds of stakeholders, including students and higher education representatives, gathered in Utrecht to protest the government’s planned cuts of €1 billion to higher education and research.
“If the cuts are not taken off the table, we will call the most disruptive strike in Dutch education ever,” cautioned Rens Bod, founder of WO in Actie, an action group for students and university staff lobbying for adequate funding in higher education.
Consulting with unions, Bod warned that strikers are prepared to act “at the most precarious moment, with the most impact”.
The government’s plans are expected to become clearer by budget day, which will take place on September 17, when it is set to present its financial plans for the coming year to parliament.
If the cuts are not taken off the table, we will call the most disruptive strike in Dutch education ever
Rens Bod, WO in Actie
Meanwhile, opposers of the cuts have planned a second day of protests for November 14.
“The government is shooting itself in the foot with these cutbacks,” said Caspar van den Berg, president of Universities of the Netherlands.
“At least 5,000 jobs are at risk due to the plans of this government. Everything that is now being dismantled, we may never get back.”
Van den Berg recently told The PIE News that the government is “putting the future of young people and Dutch prosperity at risk” by implementing the cuts.
Along with the budget cuts, protestors are speaking out against the Internationalisation in Balance Act and the government’s proposed €3,000 fine for ‘long-term study’. Under the new policy, students who must delay their studies due to personal circumstances will see their tuition fees increased.
According to Maurice Limmen, chairman of the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the damage caused by the announcement of the policy is already palpable.
“I am already speaking to students who have gone from a four-year bachelor’s degree to a two-year associate degree program,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
“It affects the students who don’t have parents at home with a big wallet… there are many students (40%) in higher professional education who are the first in their family to attend higher education, including many students from a vulnerable socio-economic background.
“These students are more sensitive to a fine and are already influenced in their choices. The long-term student fine increases inequality in the Netherlands.”
