Netherlands: Protest against research & education cuts at "critical time" of budget negotiations

"We organise a protest with universities of the Netherlands, labour organisations, action groups, and student organisations on 25/11/2024 in The Hague, near the Parliament and the Ministry of Education. This protest comes at a critical time because the parliamentary debate on the education and research budget is happening on Tuesday and Thursday", says Ruben Puylaert, spokesperson at Universiteiten van Nederland, the association of the 14 publicly funded universities in the Netherlands, on the day of the protest.

He is interviewed by News Tank in the context of the budget cuts for higher education and research presented by the new Dutch government in May 2024 and the demonstration against the cuts. According to the association, 20,000 people attended the protest.

"We expected some budget cuts, but we didn’t anticipate cuts of this magnitude—around €1 Bn annually in higher education and research. These cuts primarily affect research universities, which are our members, but they also impact Universities of Applied Sciences".

It represents around 10% of the total budget. "It’s…