University invests extra six million per year in education

Erasmus University is taking action ahead of the extra government investments in 2018. This is when money will become available following the introduction of the student finance system.

Erasmus University proposes making an extra six million euros available for 2016 and 2017 to improve education. The university is thus anticipating the expected millions which the Ministry of Education is planning to invest thanks to the student loan.

The university will deposit two of the six million in the Innovation Fund, for ‘cross-faculty’ projects. The other four million will be shared among the faculties on the basis of student numbers.

Extra money for fast measures

Another six million euros will become available immediately for fast measures: projects which can improve the quality of the education in the very short term. Project proposals are still coming in. Those which have already been received mainly concern better support for small-scale education, improvement of study materials and more student supervision and coaching.

With these early investments, the Executive Board wants to improve the quality of the education. The Ministry has not stipulated how the money must be spent. However, Minister of Education, Jet Bussemaker, expects an allocation of around 60 percent on extra staff and 40 percent on other things.