Budget Memorandum 2025: “Major cuts in higher education and science”
As expected, the planned cuts in higher education and science will continue. Presenting yesterday the Budget Memorandum 2025 (in Dutch), Education and Science minister Bruins said that the cuts in his department “add up considerably,” but also that not all cuts are “set in stone” yet. However, universities and students are furious.
Despite strong opposition from the academic world and strong lobbying to turn the tide, the minister is sticking to an annual cut of one billion. He has meanwhile promised that the so-called Sector Plans, which should lead to a coherent and interdisciplinary supply of education and research, will be spared. This will save 1,200 permanent jobs, or a sum of 215 million euros that will remain intact for universities.
On the other hand, from next year on, the minister will remove the possibility for scientists to receive start-up or incentive grants. These personal research grants can be used by scientists as they see fit. Until 2029, this will save the minister 175 million euros, i.e. 35 million a year.
Internationalization
As previously revealed, the Balanced Internationalization Act will continue. That law aims to steer international student flows in a more targeted way and make the Dutch language the norm again at colleges and universities. By reducing the number of international students, the minister hopes to save almost 300 million a year.
Higher tuition fees
The long-study fine should also save the minister money: under that system, students who take too long to study will have to pay a penalty in the form of higher tuition fees. It should bring in 282 million a year. What exactly the fine will look like is not yet known. The minister wants to consult with students and institutions on this.
Research and Science Fund
In science, the size of the Research and Science Fund will be reduced. This fund (totaling about 500 million euros per year) is used for structural support of unrelated research, but also for promoting knowledge security, open science and social security, for example. Earlier, this fund was said to be cut by 150 million, but it now turns out to be 132 million. This means, for instance, that there will be less money for subsidies on large scientific devices.
Universities of the Netherlands (UvN), the umbrella organisation in which Dutch universities work together, has reacted in shock to the plans, saying that the cuts are even worse than expected and will have an effect as early as next year against their expectations, especially where the start-up and incentive grants are concerned, which will disappear as early as 1 January 2025. “Part of the 175 million euros involved in these every year, universities have already allocated now. In the Outline Agreement, these cuts would not take effect until 2026,” says UvN.
Seething
Students are also furious. In a press statement, the National Student Union (LSVb) says it is “seething”. According to the union, which bases itself on calculations by the Nibud, students’ purchasing power will in practice lose 113 euros net per month. “This means that the purchasing power for many students will be even worse than shown here. So the cabinet’s promise that everyone will get better has turned out to be a lie. Students are being hit hard financially. 113 euros less per month means that students no longer have enough money left over to pay for their groceries. That is scandalous and unacceptable,” said LSVb president Abdelkader Karbache. “On top of that, the government is going to introduce the long-study fine. This means that students who overstay their studies by more than one year will have to pay an extra 3,000 euros a year in tuition fees. This will actually make it even harder for students to complete their studies.”
WOinactie, in which academics, administrators and students participate, declared a nationwide strike against government policies on 14 November.
