In September, students and lecturers of the Economics and Taxation programme were told out of the blue that the ESE management intended to abolish this programme. A perusal of official documents has revealed that the decision was taken privately by dean Patrick Groenen and vice-dean Michel van der Wel, without informing or seeking advice from students, lecturers, participation councils or study associations.
In recent months, we have been working to prevent the abolition, but our worst fears appear to be turning into reality: the ESE management actually made the decision to abolish in June, based on invalid arguments, and has no intention of revoking it. It refuses to listen to suggested solutions and is making no effort to retain this – by their own admission – highly valued and high-quality programme.
Decision based on invalid arguments
The exact reason for terminating the programme remains unclear to us. Arguments from the ESE management that the programme is incurring financial losses, exacerbated by declining student numbers, and that the continued existence of the programme or a partnership with the Erasmus School of Law would not be possible, are, in our opinion, not or insufficiently substantiated.
The argument of declining student numbers is based on too short a time frame (2022–2024). Although there is a declining trend nationwide, the number of students studying Economics and Taxation at Erasmus University Rotterdam remains stable and has been growing again in recent years. The management has wrongly assumed that student numbers will continue to decline in future because it has not looked at historical intake figures, has not conducted external market research, has made no attempts to increase intake and has not investigated the reasons for the national decline.
In addition, it has been suggested that rising costs will make the programme loss-making, without a clear substantiation of the cost structure. The management has merely outlined a theoretical situation based on falling student numbers. Our research shows that – were the ESE to make other choices – the Economics and Taxation programme would continue to be profitable. We also regret that the ESE management seems unwilling to conduct any further investigation into the synergy and cost benefits to be gained for both schools if a partnership with the Erasmus School of Law were to be established.
Taking the easy way out is unworthy of this university
It pains us how the ESE management has come to its decision and has reacted to suggested solutions from students, lecturers and other concerned bodies. As student members of the programme committee, we have been giving our all to ensure the quality of our programme for the past few years, while behind our backs, it has spent two years working to discontinue it. This happened without any announcement, as the ESE management was afraid that students would abandon the programme in droves. Nonsense. The Economics and Taxation programme has very active and driven students who have the programme’s best interests at heart and a close-knit and passionate lecturer team, with many having been in service for more than two decades.
We would have liked and still hope to seek a solution together. The ESE management is not giving us the time or encouragement to do so because it insists on meeting the February 2025 deadline to deregister the programme with the Ministry, so that it will not have to be offered to new students in the 2026–2027 academic year. The ESE’s attempt to abolish the programme in this way is unworthy of this university.
Social impact
We have repeatedly reminded the ESE management of the social impact of the decision. While the programme is to be abolished, the demand for tax professionals is rising. The director of the Dutch Association of Tax Advisers confirms this in a letter to the dean, stating that he would like to explore with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration how both organisations could contribute to or provide for a growth in the number of tax professionals.
In addition, the Economics and Taxation programme fits perfectly within the new government policy, which asks universities to accept their social responsibility to strengthen the position of Dutch-language programmes. We therefore find it incomprehensible that the dean intends to abolish specifically this programme.
Stichting Belastingwinkel Rotterdam (SBR) and R.F.V. Christiaanse Taxateurs (CT) are also involved in this programme. SBR’s volunteers provide free tax advice to low-income people completing their income tax returns in the Rotterdam and The Hague area. CT introduces students to fellow students and fiscal practice. The ESE has failed to take into account that the abolition of the Economics and Taxation programme will result in SBR and CT losing about half of their members, bringing about the loss of an important social function.
We call on the Executive Board and the University Council to advise against the abolition of the Economics and Taxation programme and to engage in dialogue to preserve this high-quality programme. In addition, we would like to ask anyone who cares about the Economics and Taxation programme, or who believes that the programme deserves just treatment, to sign our petition to preserve the Economics and Taxation programme for Rotterdam.
Wessel den Ouden and Florian Kooiman, student members of the Economics and Taxation programme committee.
