Update: Executive Board responds to government cuts
The Schoof cabinet has presented its budget. As expected, higher education is facing severe cuts. In the coming period, the Executive Board will regularly (see updates below) look at the consequences of what it deems an irresponsible policy.
Dark clouds over the humanities
[Update 29 October 2024]
The Faculty of Humanities is likely to have to make significant cuts to its programmes and courses because of a growing shortfall. This could mean that degree programmes are scrapped or merged. Nor can a reorganisation and job cuts be ruled out. These plans do not yet include the government plans to make sweeping cuts to higher education.
‘We are shocked by the dark clouds gathering above the faculty’, says Rector Hester Bijl. ‘We support the faculty – the board, the students and staff – in this difficult time and are helping seek solutions. The starting point is to do all we can to limit the damage.’
The faculty is struggling with dwindling student numbers, which makes funding smaller programmes and courses problematic. Various committees within the faculty have already started working on plans and the institutes are closely involved. It should be emphasised that these are scenarios that are currently being discussed with the participation bodies and the Executive Board. A final decision has not yet been made.
In the Faculty Board’s plan, the emphasis lies on reducing the teaching – less contact time – and increasing the joint courses across degree programmes. Not only does the current shortfall need to be addressed but the long-term vision for the humanities in Leiden also needs to be safeguarded. The starting point is therefore to preserve the distinctive breadth of the humanities at Leiden University.
The programmes under immediate threat are the Bachelor’s in African Studies and the Bachelor’s in Latin American Studies – programmes that have become too small to exist as a separate programme. ‘The teaching in these fields will not disappear completely but will continue within the broad International Studies programme’, Dean Mark Rutgers explains. ‘In addition, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and South and Southeast Asian Studies will be merged into a new bachelor’s programme, “Asia Studies”. This should consolidate our position for the future.’
Programmes in the European languages and cultures that are so important for collaboration with our neighbouring countries and that, for example, are also taught at secondary schools (qualified teachers are needed for this) may also have to be merged. ‘Then the current stand-alone German, French and Italian programmes would merge to create a new Bachelor’s in European languages and cultures’, says Rutgers. ‘This is a subject of discussion with our sister faculties throughout the country.’
‘Not only are student numbers dwindling at the Faculty of Humanities but students are also earning fewer credits and the number of PhDs are decreasing, while salary costs continue to rise’, he explains. ‘This could leave the faculty with an annual deficit of almost EUR 6 million by 2025.’
This still does not include the sweeping cuts the government intends to make (see this blog for more information, Ed.) by, among others, halting the intake of international students and limiting English-taught programmes through the Balanced Internationalisation Act. This is likely to have huge implications for the Faculty of Humanities (among others), but the effects are not yet clear. It is thought that all faculties will be profoundly affected.’
Hester Bijl warns of the ramifications on society. ‘Many of the language and culture programmes are extremely important for our knowledge of regions that are currently going through such difficult times: the Middle East, for example, with the escalating conflict there. In the Middle Eastern Studies programmes, important specialisations such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Islamic Studies, Hebrew and Modern Middle Eastern Studies would be significantly reduced. It is very painful to think this is necessary.’
Rutgers adds, ‘The Faculty of Humanities definitely wishes to maintain this expertise. Where else will politicians, negotiators, aid workers and other specialists who want to help resolve the crisis obtain their knowledge?’
‘We will continue to fight’, Bijl concludes, ‘and together with the faculty will do all we can to limit the damaging effects for our students and staff and thus for society as a whole.’
Working groups looking at measures to absorb cuts
[Update 23 October 2024]
In these updates, we will let you know how we are dealing with the impact of the announced government cuts. As the previous update on internationalisation showed, much is still unclear and uncertain.
The Executive Board and faculty boards met on 17 October to discuss the preliminary findings of the three internal working groups: cost, structure and benefits (see earlier post and below). The groups comprise specialists from faculties, expertise centres and Administration and Central Services who are considering possible measures to absorb the effects of the cuts.
Martijn Ridderbos leads these groups on behalf of the Executive Board. He said the following about the meeting on 17 October: ‘It was a good, constructive meeting where we explored short- (starting from 2025), medium- and long-term (2026 and beyond) measures.
‘But we are not there yet. As the Executive Board, we think it is too early at this point to decide on concrete measures for the short- and medium-term. We want to consider this carefully and come up with clear assignments, and that takes more time. We will then inform not only the faculty boards but also management of the expertise centres and Administration and Central Services.’
We will provide more information in these updates once a decision has been taken.
The three working groups have the following assignment:
- Organisational structure: this group is examining the extent to which a change in structure can bring cost savings.
- Costs: this group will make suggestions on how to save money for all units and sections of the university.
- Benefits: this group is looking at proposals to increase our income through research organisations, contracts with third parties and other sources.
The Balanced Internationalisation Bill even stricter than we had feared
[Update 22 October 2024]
The Executive Board is concerned about the effects of the strict language criteria outlined in the Balanced Internationalisation Bill on Leiden University’s degree programmes. ‘Minister Bruin’s parliamentary letter is even stricter than we had feared. This can have major implications for our English-taught bachelor’s programmes’, said President Annetje Ottow on behalf of the Executive Board.
‘Minister of Education, Culture and Science Bruins has four objectives with the Balanced Internationalisation Bill: he wants to reduce the number of English-taught programmes, admit fewer international bachelor’s students, promote Dutch language skills and make savings’, Ottow explains.
To reduce the number of English-taught bachelor’s programmes, Bruins plans to use the TAO (Toets Anderstalig Onderwijs; an evaluation of whether permission will be granted to teach a programme in a language other than Dutch). The TAO will apply to bachelor’s programmes taught in English as well as for Dutch-taught programmes and tracks (specialisations) in which more than a third of the teaching is in English.
The minister has also announced that he will look very critically at the exceptions, such as English-taught programmes that meet labour shortages or are at universities in border regions or what are known as “shrinking regions”.
‘He has already warned that he wants to meet his spending-cut targets, so will not be generous with the criteria for exceptions. He will also further tighten the “internationally unique” and “international positioning” criteria’, Rector Hester Bijl adds.
The Bill will be presented to the House of Representatives this autumn for voting. The minister views the institutions’ previously shared self-management plans as a first step. He now wants to reach agreements on the way in which the institutions will give further shape to this self-management and decreasing the number of international students.
This could be, for example, through joint (cluster) TAO applications and joint decisionmaking on the self-management plans. If that does not succeed, the act may be applied so strictly that hardly any programmes pass the TAO and a long period of uncertaintly breaks out because of the ministry’s time-consuming evaluation process.
‘We are in intensive discussions within the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL)’, says Bijl, adding, ‘The minister is also threatening to crack down in the longer term on the master’s programmes that are largely in English. He will consider this if the universities do not make sufficient haste in converting their bachelor’s programmes to Dutch. Either way, bleak and uncertain times lie ahead and we must face them together. This makes connection, communication and collaboration more essential than ever.
Response to parliamentary letter on internationalisation
[Update 16 October 2024]
The Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Eppo Bruins, outlined his vision on internationalisation in a parliamentary letter on 15 October. He wants to severely limit the number of international students wanting to come to study in the Netherlands. He also wants Dutch to be the norm once again as the language of instruction and administration.
The Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) are fiercely critical of these plans (in Dutch). ‘Universities are deeply concerned about the government’s plans. The name of the bill is “Balanced Internationalisation” but this government is launching a savage attack on universities, with further cuts of 293 million euros to the intake of international students’, said President Casper van den Berg on behalf of the Universities of the Netherlands.
He added, ‘This approach will deplete education, rob us of important academic talent and scare off the international students our country so desperately needs.’
Leiden University’s Executive Board is also critical and concerned. ‘The plans outlined by the minister in the parliamentary letter are deeply troubling’, said Executive Board President, Annetje Ottow. ‘International students and staff contribute greatly to our higher education and research and are hugely important to society. Our priority will be to discuss this with our student and staff community through our representation bodies as well as with the deans and other management staff. We will look together at what this will mean for our university.’
‘We will not take this lying down’, Ottow stressed. ‘We will do all we can – alone and with UNL – to prevent this from happening. This will include lobbying and holding talks in The Hague and supporting the national day of action for higher education on 14 November in Utrecht and other protests, student or otherwise. We are already working behind the scenes on scenarios and our own strategy for resisting these plans.’
What do we know now about the consequences for our university of the cutbacks announced by the cabinet?
[Update Tuesday 8 October 2024]
Martijn Ridderbos: ‘We’re currently working hard to complete the budget for 2025 and will then discuss it with the University Council and the Board of Governors. However, we still have two major areas of uncertainty. One issue is the proposed Balanced Internationalisation Act (WIB): what will this mean for universities, and specifically for us? The other issue is: what are the consequences of the fine for late graduation that the cabinet wants to introduce – for students and also for the university?’
The loss of the Starter Grants and Incentive Grants from 1 January 2025, which is a certainty, has already been incorporated in the budget for 2025. The same applies for maintaining the sector plans. But the bottom line effect is the same, namely a loss of funding that one way or another will be certain to have negative consequences for our teaching and research.
Ridderbos, the Executive Board member responsible for finances, regularly holds informal discussions with the University Council about the budget. ‘This is a complex time when we want to involve everyone, and of course that also includes the co-participation bodies, as far as possible. In 2025 we will be able to implement most of the plans that we established with the 2025 framework memorandum, partly because we had our finances in good order over the past few years. In these plans we took account of the economies in the faculties, expertise centres and Administration & Central Services. I cannot rule out that we will have to make even more economies. However we look at it, we are facing difficult times – in any event for the years from 2026 to 2029.’
To prepare ourselves well for this more difficult period, we will have to take measures now that will strengthen our financial buffer in the short term, says Ridderbos. ‘This is also because the government will not make any money available to compensate for the costs of the transition and any possible reorganisations. Three internal working groups made up of staff from Administration & Central Services, the expertise centres and the faculties are currently developing plans for the (management) structure of the university (1), the costs (2) and the benefits (3) that might possibly compensate for the cutbacks.’
He concludes: ‘All this means that we have now drawn up the budget for 2025, but can only produce a provisional outline for the years from 2026 to 2029. We hope in the autumn to receive more information about the dossier on internationalisation and the late graduation fine, so that we have a better idea of where we stand. As soon as we have any further information, we will get back to you.’
During the Opening of the Academic Year, President of the Executive Board Annetje Ottow said the planned cuts would cause ‘carnage’. Now the government has presented its plans that image has not changed, says the Board. ‘No, the cabinet is actually going to make an unbelievable €1 billion of cuts to higher education. Much remains unclear, but what we can be sure of is that we are going to feel this on many fronts.’
Unwise and irresponsible
Both the scale of the plans and the uncertainty they bring to the education sector are unwise and completely irresponsible. ‘To put it very bluntly indeed: the quality of our research and teaching is at stake’, says the Board. ‘We and our colleagues from other universities have been warning about this for some time.
‘We share our knowledge with the public, government and all sorts of other partners; the Netherlands is going to feel this drop in quality. The three government policy assessment agencies quite rightly warn of a negative effect on our prosperity. This policy will cause untold harm to the strength and quality of Dutch society.’
Stress and uncertainty
The cabinet’s plans are now known but much remains unclear. And what we do know is not good news, says the Board. ‘It is important that the announced cuts to the sector plans are not going ahead. However, this comes at the expense of the starter and incentive grants. It is a typical sleight of hand: we are paying for this ourselves because the cabinet will fund it through the starter grants.’
The cuts to the starter and incentive grants are painful: these were intended to tackle the high workload, particularly among young researchers. ‘We had been working on that for some time. The previous cabinet had taken measures to reduce the workload but this is all being reversed. This cabinet is creating greater stress and uncertainty.’
Hit hard
The Board also decries the plans to introduce a long-term study penalty. ‘This is bad news for our students and much is yet unclear. What will be the exact rules? And the consequences? No one knows. And now is when we would really like to offer our students more clarity so they know where they stand.
‘And that brings us to the Internationalisation in Balance Act. International programmes ensure that students have a challenging environment in which to learn and come up with new ideas, that we are aware of new discoveries and knowledge from all around the world and that clever and talented people have the chance to develop. This is good not only for students but also for businesses and all of society.
‘If we are forced to convert some of our bachelor’s programmes to Dutch, international talent will soon be seeking jobs or degree programmes beyond our national borders. And the Netherlands desperately needs this group. The universities in the Randstad region will be particularly hard hit. These measures will have huge consequences for our range of programmes, as we stressed during the Opening of the Academic Year.’
Impossible puzzle
The Executive Board and the faculties are already facing cuts in the 2025 fiscal year. These do not include the cabinet’s new measures. ‘Fortunately, the university has maintained a healthy financial policy over the past years. As a result, we do not appear to need to make urgent modifications to the 2025 budget. But this is the calm before the storm.
‘We will remain in close consultation with the faculties, directorates and expertise centres but also with the University Council and the Board of Governors. One thing is clear: we need to prepare for more radical measures in the face of shrinking budgets. The university now has to start trying to solve this almost impossible puzzle.’
Take up the fight
But this does not mean that we are simply going to roll over and accept the plans. 'In cooperation with the UNL (Universities of the Netherlands, the organisation representing the interests of Dutch universities, Ed.) we will take up the fight against these austerity plans. This could mean campaigning, intensive lobbying and actively seeking out the media. We are stronger together, after all.
‘And we are also in intensive contact with the Ministry. We have clearly stated that the cabinet plans will significantly affect life at our university. Whether this will help? Only time will tell. We are not giving up at any rate.’
Solidarity
Some academics have already been calling in the media for cuts to non-academic staff in particular. The Board does not think that such a one-sided focus is the solution. ‘Like other institutions and companies, universities desperately need these staff. Good teaching and research are something we create together. So we must take up the gauntlet and respond to this disastrous policy. Let us stand in solidarity so we can continue to be a strong, broad-based university that values the quality of our teaching and research.’
Stay strong
The Executive Board promises to update the university community regularly on all plans and initiatives. ‘It is hugely important that everyone is aware of and can help respond to these developments, particularly since we all understand this is going to hurt.
‘Let us at least try to stay strong together. We should be proud of our university, the commitment of our community and our excellent research and teaching. Our job now is to keep it so, despite the government’s efforts to thwart this. Let us do all we can to get through this together and limit the harm caused by this irresponsible government policy.’