Universities warn student screening will hurt reputations

Plans to screen masters students and researchers working with ‘sensitive’ technologies are unworkable, expensive and risk harming Dutch higher education, the Netherlands universities association UNL said on Tuesday 17 June, reports Dutch News.

The proposed measures, introduced by Education Minister Eppo Bruins, would require universities to vet masters students and researchers working in one of 115 research fields considered to be high risk, including generative AI, genetic modification and hydrogen studies.

Bruins has said the checks are necessary “to protect our security and economy, in a world in which there is increasing interest in knowledge which we want to keep to ourselves”. The minister had wanted to restrict screening to students from outside the European Union, but widened the scope because of the risk of discrimination. He has left it to universities to define which areas they consider sensitive, in an effort to reduce unnecessary checks.
Full report on the Dutch News site