The ministry of Education will tighten the screws from 2026. There needs to be an end to cheap sports and lunches for students and staff. Or as the ministry sees it: educational institutions must not use public funding for ‘private activities’.
According to the ministry, sports facilities and canteens fall under those private activities. The universities association UNL estimates that a sports subscription for students could cost 700 euros per year, up from about 200 euros now.
Abruptness
Jon de Ruijter, director of Erasmus Sport, describes the news that universities can no longer provide affordable sports facilities as a ‘devastating blow’. “The regulation is not new, but I am upset by the speed and abruptness with which this is now being announced to be enforced.”
De Ruijter believes the announcement contradicts the development of student sports in the Netherlands in recent years. “We have 11,000 visitors per week. Never have so many students participated in sports. This is also true for other cities.” Moreover, he states that sport is more than just a workout. “The trend is that there is increasing attention to student wellbeing, and sport is important for that. It also concerns social functionality, breaking loneliness and mental health. This importance has been recognised more in recent years.”
'No huge increase in September'
De Ruijter hesitates to comment on the consequences. “It is quite possible that a more expensive sports pass will also affect associated clubs, but I honestly don’t know yet what students will notice.” Together with the sports directors of other universities and the universities association UNL, they are still lobbying against the plans. “We do not have any scenarios prepared yet.”
In the short term, students are not likely to notice much change, De Ruijter assures. “We are not going to panic by implementing a huge increase in our sports pass price for students and staff in September. We are doing everything we can to ease any potential future pain.”
For now, De Ruijter is focusing on increasing revenue creatively, especially since the new building, that opened in 2022, has turned out to be more expensive than anticipated. For instance, Erasmus Sport will introduce ‘Hyrox training’ in the upcoming academic year, a new form of cardio and strength training that is currently very popular.
Little understanding in the House of Representatives
In the House of Representatives, the minister also faced opposition to the plan. “I find it incomprehensible”, said member of parliament Luc Stultiens (GroenLinks-PvdA) during a debate with minister Eppo Bruins on Wednesday. According to Stultiens, sports facilities are obviously important for the mental wellbeing of students. He describes the ministry’s new rules as an example of ‘excessive market forces’.
However, minister Bruins states that there is no new regulation. Public funds must not be spent on anything other than education, research, and knowledge dissemination, according to his position. If they do so, it must be under strict conditions.
'Market-conform'
Just before the debate, Bruins responded to written questions stating that student facilities such as sports facilities and university museums can positively contribute to students’ wellbeing, and in that way to their personal development and study results. But that is not the only thing that matters, he explained.
The minister wants to ‘guard the boundaries of public funding’. Therefore, for sports facilities and canteens, educational institutions must charge the cost price or, alternatively, set a market-conform rate. “This prevents public money from leaking away or creating market distortion.” This also applies to university museums and the like. In the debate, Bruins reiterated this position.
Putting pressure on the minister
Stultiens is not leaving the matter to rest, he says in a response after the debate. “We will continue to put pressure on the minister. We have the students and universities on our side.” He intends to propose a motion.
According to the universities, the new course will only lead to administrative hassle. There is even a risk that no annual report for 2025 will be approved, they warn.
Moreover, the offering of courses and further education will also lead to problems: those will need to become more expensive as well. The universities of applied sciences are also warning about this: the inflow of teacher training programmes could be jeopardised. These are programmes for individuals retraining for education.
Bruins will return to this, he said to the House of Representatives. The ministry is conducting an exploration into a ‘legal mandate’ for lifelong learning in higher education and the role of public and private education in this. “Our aim is to make good use of the qualities of public and private providers.”
