Government falls: What consequences for higher education?

After a series of political crises and night-time negotiations, it has happened: within one year, the cabinet has fallen. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), pulled the plug on the government. Sometime in the autumn, the Netherlands will go to the polls again. Universities hope that policy-makers will once again allocate extra money to education and research, reports Hoger Onderwijs Persbureau.

The effects of the cuts are already visible, says umbrella association Universities of the Netherlands: “Layoffs, discontinued study programmes and stagnated research. It is imperative that policy-makers reverse this destructive government policy before it is too late,” a response reads. The Dutch Student Union has something similar to say. It hopes that the fall of the government “means the end of the horrendous cutbacks, and that the next government will invest in education, that the basic student grant will go up and that enough affordable student housing will be created”.

One thing won’t change in the coming months: the government itself. It will continue to govern with an “outgoing” status. The PVV ministers are stepping down, but Eppo Bruins is the education minister on behalf of New Social Contract and is likely to remain in office until a successor takes over.
Full report on the Vox site