Universities go to court after Senate supports €500 million cutbacks

On 8 April the Senate in the Netherlands voted to support the government’s cutbacks to education and science, amounting to a total of €500 million (US$570 million), including more than €200 million that will affect start-up and incentive grants. Doubts about the legality of some of the cuts were not enough to save the budget.

Several universities now plan to take the government to court to fight the cutbacks. Tilburg University and Radboud University have already been named as plaintiffs.

Ahead of the vote, Paul van Meenen, of the Democrats 66 political party, denounced the budget as “an attack on the future of our young people”. He noted: “That may sound dramatic, but this is a dramatic situation.”

Caspar van den Berg, chairperson of Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), stated in a press release: “This is a major blow for students, employees, and the Netherlands as a whole. It is inexplicable that a country that almost entirely depends on knowledge chooses to make such drastic cuts to education, research and innovation.

“And this, at a time when the Netherlands is increasingly dependent on itself geopolitically and economically.”

Recent examples of austerity measures in anticipation of the cutbacks include severe budget cuts and reduction in staff at the Roosevelt Academy in Middelburg, Zeeland, part of Utrecht University, a small liberal arts college, and the closure by the Free University of Amsterdam of its Earth Sciences Department.

Doubts about the budget’s legality

There are also major question marks about the legitimacy of some of the cutbacks. The current government does not have a majority in the Senate, and the budget was passed with the support of some other small parties after the cuts were reduced.

“Can Education Minister Eppo Bruins cancel an administrative agreement with the universities and cut more than €200 million in funding just because he wants to tighten the purse strings?”

This was the question asked to the Senate, given that universities expected to receive extra funding for 10 years, according to the administrative agreement concluded by the previous cabinet in 2022. However, the current coalition did not feel obliged to stand by this agreement.

“The budget unilaterally breaks the Higher Education and Science administrative agreement that was concluded by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science with the universities in 2022. Various universities will, therefore, challenge the individual funding decisions established on the basis of the budget,” van den Berg said.

Even Robbert Dijkgraaf, the previous minister of education, who had made the agreement with the universities, got involved in the debate.

It is very unusual for a former minister to get in the way of his successor, but he told De Volkskrant newspaper this week that the agreements were intended “in the letter and spirit” for the long term, DUB, the University of Utrecht news site reported.

Consequences of the cutbacks

“To help the Netherlands move forward, universities need stable and sufficient funding. Since the presentation of the main lines agreement, there have been ten months of protests against the cuts.

“At the end of November, 25,000 people stood on the Malieveld with a clear message to politicians: don’t do it! In recent weeks, many universities also protested with a relay strike. This week, the actions will continue,” wrote Ruben Puylaert, spokesperson for UNL on their website.

And the resistance did not only come from students and university staff. The business community, mayors, lawyers and health organisations also pointed out how damaging the consequences of the cuts are for Dutch society and the economy.

This puts universities in a difficult situation.

“Due to the budget cuts, much scientific research will have to stop, and degree programmes will disappear. The first reorganisations have already been announced in recent months, and, unfortunately, things will not stop there.

“Universities will have to make difficult choices together about the range of degree programmes on offer so that education remains accessible to all and meets the needs of society,” Puylaert stated.

Legal action necessary

“In 2022, the universities concluded the Higher Education and Science Governance Agreement with the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

“In it, they agreed that the central government would provide €300 million a year for starter and incentive grants. At the insistence of the minister, universities started awarding these grants almost straight away,” wrote Puylaert.

“The Minister instilled confidence in the universities that these would be funded. Now that this is not happening, several universities will start legal proceedings against the lower funding than agreed. Tilburg University and Radboud University will do so,” Puylaert noted.

Van den Berg stated: “The minister himself already indicated that this cabinet has damaged the confidence of the universities, but he is simply continuing with the disastrous cutbacks. We believe that universities are entitled to the promised €300 million per year in any case.

“The minister is not complying with the agreements in the administrative agreement. Many legal scholars question the legal tenability of unilaterally breaking open the agreement.

“This stands in the way of any future agreements between universities and the government. If the minister does not want to go back on this, the court’s judgment is needed to restore confidence in the government.”

Right to change policy

While universities are expected to take legal action to overturn the cuts, and some experts say they could be successful, D66 senator Paul van Meenen suggested that the Senate shouldn’t leave issues like this to the courts.

“If we do that, we no longer have a right to exist. This is what we’re here for,” he is quoted as saying on Cursor, the Eindhoven University of Technology news site. Accordingly, he and several other Senate members jointly tabled a motion on the violation of the administrative agreement and called on the government to only reverse a part of the cuts.

However, Minister Bruins advised against this motion, reiterating his position that a new government has the right to change policy and regulate funding.

As Cursor reported: “While he did acknowledge that the universities had been promised extra resources, he argued that these were not allocated through targeted grants. Rather, the total amount of funding was increased, with institutions receiving lump sums to spend as they saw fit.

“This alone made the agreements non-binding, according to Bruins. A grant can be reclaimed if it’s not spent properly, he reasons, which is not possible with general funding, as this is spent at the discretion of the institutions.

Cursor continued: “Isn’t Bruins worried about the erosion of trust in government? He does recognise that ‘binding’ agreements were made and that his predecessor, Dijkgraaf, intended for the additional funding to be available long-term. However, that doesn’t mean that the agreements are legally enforceable.”

Nonetheless, opposition to the government’s policy continues unabated, and not just in court. The Dutch Student Union has already announced a new wave of protests, stating: “The future of our children and grandchildren is being axed.”

Trade union FNV, which called the approval of the budget “a pitch-black day for education in the Netherlands”, is focusing its efforts on local strikes and demonstrations, starting in Rotterdam and Tilburg.

International reputation damaged

“The Netherlands is a country that relies heavily on international collaboration,” according to Tim van der Hagen, rector of Delft University of Technology. “That loss of reputation may be even more damaging than the budget cuts,” he noted.

He warned that the cuts planned by the government will force Dutch universities “to make ‘painful choices’ and risk long-term harm to the country’s high standing in global academia”, the NL Times reported.

These “painful choices” include scaling back internationalisation efforts at Dutch universities and limiting the use of English in education. These policies have already had an impact, with the number of foreign students applying to study in the Netherlands declining.

Universities are reportedly already feeling the financial squeeze. Some institutions have begun laying off staff, while Delft University has instructed all departments to cut their budgets by 10%, Van der Hagen said.

The funding reductions are also making it harder for Dutch institutions to attract and retain top researchers. Van der Hagen noted that leading academics abroad are now hesitant to consider positions in the Netherlands, while established researchers within the country are beginning to look elsewhere for opportunities.

“Colleagues who have been working here for years are starting to feel unwelcome. As a result, they are exploring opportunities elsewhere. The reputational damage we have already suffered will affect science in the Netherlands for years to come,” he said.

Hans de Wit, a Dutch higher education expert who is now professor emeritus and distinguished fellow at the Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, United States, told University World News: “The combination of budget cuts and planned measures to reduce the number of international students and courses taught in English will have a big impact on the quality and attractiveness of Dutch research universities and universities of applied sciences.

“Over the past two decades Dutch higher education has become an attractive destination for international students and faculty, and the research universities have been able to maintain their quality status in the global competitive environment.”

He added: “And although elsewhere higher education is also facing serious reductions in funding and in international students and scholars, for a relatively small country with an excellent reputation and a highly international industry, the negative impact will be very big.

“This is the reason why there is strong opposition to the policy of the government with respect to higher education, not only from within the sector but also from industry.”

Iris Kimizoglu, president of the European Students Union, told University World News: “While we cannot assess the question of legality, it can be assessed that the cuts of the higher education budget will hurt Dutch education, knowledge production, innovation and research immensely.

“Not only does it stand in contrast to the need for high-skilled workers to master a multitude of societal challenges such as the twin transition and digitalisation.

“Furthermore, given recent developments globally, it hinders the Dutch higher education sector from emerging as a haven of stability and educational leadership.”

Lodewijk Torenbeek, who is one of Europe’s earliest modern higher international educationalists, starting up the international work at Utrecht University in the 1970s, told University World News that the ongoing cutback developments are crazy and should not happen.

“But since they are, we should be smart and make the best use of it. Universities should move on matters that have been difficult. And when the dust falls and things get back to normal, things might even have benefitted from such challenges,” Torenbeek said.