A proposed Dutch government plan to redistribute funding for universities might cause the University of Groningen to lose 9 million euros a year, the Dagblad van het Noorden reports.
The government is considering increasing funding for technical studies and universities, which would come at the expense of “classical universities” like the University of Groningen, which has a broader academic profile with more alpha (humanities), gamma (social sciences) and medical programmes in addition to beta (math and science) studies.
According to Dagblad van het Noorden, a memorandum was issued on Wednesday by an advisory committee with recommendations for a redistribution of the government’s educational funding. This memorandum has been presented to education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven, who called it “an interesting report”.
“This will really hurt”
In response to the committee’s proposal, University of Groningen spokesperson Gernant Deekens says that technical universities in the Netherlands – such as in Delft and Eindhoven – will be happy with the plans, but that at classical universities like Utrecht, Leiden and Groningen, “this will really hurt”.
It is now up to minister Van Engelshoven to come up with a concrete proposal for the funding of all Dutch universities, which she will present to parliament. It remains to be seen if she will ultimately incorporate the committee’s recommendations.
Photo source: Marcel Spanjer
