Coalition and opposition are out: agreement on education budget
The coalition parties reached an agreement yesterday afternoon with four opposition parties on the planned education cuts. These amounted to two billion across the board, but will now be reduced by 748 million euro. The Senate will now almost certainly agree to the cabinet plans. The higher education field is still furious and is threatening strikes again.
Besides the coalition parties PVV, VVD, NSC, BBB, CDA, SGP, ChristenUnie and JA21 have now also agreed to the education budget. Healthcare will pay for this adjustment: the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport will cut more than 200 million.
Furthermore, less money (€75 million) goes to the public transport student card. Now that the entire education budget can count on a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the cabinet can go into the Christmas recess with peace of mind.
Revenge cuts
That does not apply to the higher education field, which is still furious about the cuts, which, after all, remain largely intact. Meanwhile, UvA professor Rens Bod, foreman of WOinActie, has already expressed his utter dissatisfaction with the agreement reached. “The deal reached by CDA, CU, JA21 and SGP with Geert Wilders is completely unacceptable and reprehensible. The education cuts are disastrous for universities, cities, regions and ultimately for the whole of the Netherlands,” Bod said on behalf of WOinActie.
“For higher education and research, the education cuts are still disastrous. Universities will suffer enormous damage, courses will have to close and research will grind to a halt. Moreover, the cuts are a direct attack on our democratic rule of law. They are unnecessary, unwise, illegitimate and harmful to society,” Bod said. He speaks of “revenge cuts” and says strikes are now “explicitly on the table”.
Black smoke
Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) is also still very dissatisfied. “White smoke turns out to be black smoke; half a billion is still being cut back on higher education and science. Judging from the figures presented, the cuts to scientific research in particular are still rock hard.” UNL president Caspar van den Berg says scientific research is “the big loser” of this political deal. “These cuts will result in important scientific research having to stop and will drastically reduce the earning capacity and innovation power of the Netherlands.”
According to a survey by UNL, the following cuts still stand:
* Start-up and incentive grants: €217 million;
* Research and science fund: 25 to 50 million euros per year until 2031;
* Target international students €168 million;
* Cut in scientific research via NWO: up to 62 million euros.
Long-term study fine
The National Union of Students is also still dissatisfied with the weakening of the cuts, which still total €1.2 billion for higher education. Future generations would suffer as a result, according to the union. The only thing the LSVb is happy about is that the longterm study fine is off the table.
