“I’m not against cutbacks in higher education per se. Public interest may require them”, said philosopher Ad Verbrugge of Beter Onderwijs Nederland (Better Education in the Netherlands), an action group that, amongst other things, opposes anglicisation at universities. But the cutbacks this cabinet is making “lack vision”, Verbrugge added.

He spoke at an expert meeting in the Senate on the legality and feasibility of the cutbacks in higher education. The senators will soon have to vote on the budget for education, science and culture and wanted to be better informed.

Prior speakers at the meeting were Caspar van den Berg and Maurice Limmen, chair of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) and the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences respectively, who expressed their position that the cutbacks are a bad idea. Van den Berg (UNL) was himself a senator for VVD until recently. Union leader Douwe Dirk van der Zweep (General Union of Education) also clarified the problems.

Uncertainty

Topics of discussion included the scrapping of small degree programmes and the layoffs at various universities, but also the uncertainty that the cabinet is allowing to continue: who will be affected by those cutbacks? Institutions outside the Randstad conurbation may be exempt from certain cutbacks, but don’t know how this will work out. The other institutions are afraid the cutbacks will mostly be at their expense. And all of them are preparing for the worst.

One of the sticking points for the government is the administrative agreement the previous cabinet concluded. This promises institutions money for a period of ten years, which the current cabinet is cutting. Can they go to court to get this money after all?

Not without a chance

Such a procedure is “not without a chance in my opinion”, said Raymond Schlössels, another expert and professor of Administrative Law at Maastricht University. He sounded cautious, but according to him the financial agreements are “quite concrete” and raise certain expectations. He added that ‘legitimate trust’ has been established (“There’s no question about this, as far as I’m concerned”), which means that a judge could well decide that certain cuts aren’t allowed at all.

But for the parties defending the cutbacks, or even applauding them, Verbrugge was the most thought-provoking speaker. He criticised the funding model that’s mostly based on student numbers. Small degree programmes disappear because they attract too few students. There’s even competition within education institutions: study programmes prefer that their students don’t complete a minor at another faculty. It’s not that too little money is going to education, he said, but that it’s being distributed incorrectly. He also criticised the high costs for the central services and administration.

“I think it’s very unwise to implement a cutback without involving that context”, Verbrugge emphasised. Until this happens, the institutions will cut small programmes that are also related to the rest of the education, for example secondary school subjects like German and French. At the same time, the anglicisation of higher education “has gone much too far”, he added. The universities in particular draw many students with English-taught programmes.

Shrinkage

He called it “crazy” that the shrinkage is a problem for higher education. “Shrinkage isn’t a problem at all. It means you have more money for fewer students, allowing you to intensify your education.” But not in the current funding system. Right now, universities of applied sciences actually have to cut back if they draw fewer students.

But the funding system can’t be adapted that quickly. So what can be done right now, asked JA21 Senator Karin van Bijsterveld. After all, “There’s also a chance that you’ll simply have to accept this. Let’s be honest.” Her party supports the cutbacks, having made a deal with the coalition parties.

The higher education institutions acknowledge funding could be better. The current system only works “in a market that can always grow”, Van den Berg said, “in other words, if more domestic students come and if – to put it irreverently – you can always tap into a pool of foreign students somewhere in the world.” In a shrinking market, the entire system collapses, he said. The universities of applied sciences are also facing decreasing student numbers and are calling for “more stability with respect to funding”, said Limmen.

More supervision

But for the rest, they want as little interference from The Hague as possible. Verbrugge pictured things entirely differently. He wants more supervision. “These are public resources that require democratic accountability”, he argued. Otherwise, the logic of competition prevails and all kinds of small programmes and disciplines will disappear from the Netherlands.

Now, the question is what the senators will do with all of the input. They can demand better substantiation and get the minister to promise all kinds of things. They could even reject the budget. But such a rejection hasn’t happened since 1907 and the four coalition parties (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB) have secured a majority in the Senate thanks to a deal with the three Christian parties and JA21.