Netherlands: "Budget cuts are still huge" after agreement on education budget (Utrecht University)

The Dutch coalition parties agree with part of the opposition on the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) budget, reducing the planned education cuts by €748 M. "The budget cuts in higher education and research are still huge", says Utrecht University on 12/12/2024, the day after the agreement.

If some measures are disregarded from the original budget plan, like the long-term study penalty (an additional €3,000 in tuition fees if students miss more than a year in their degree), more than half a billion in budget cuts remain for higher education and research, according to the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), an association of 14 publicly funded Dutch universities).

"We had hoped that our collective protest as staff and students would lead to more (...), as a board, we will continue to oppose these budget cuts as we have done in recent months", declares Margot van der Starre, Vice President of the Executive Board of Utrecht University.

On the same day, the Dutch Research Council (NWO) states: "With only a small part of the cuts for science being reversed, concerns…