Universities of Applied Sciences want to teach the army, universities grapple with dilemmas

The Association of Universities of Applied Sciences has signed a ‘declaration of intent’ for cooperation with the armed forces. Outgoing Deputy Defence Secretary Gijs Tuinman also put his signature to it, as did the MBO Council and several private training providers. Universities are still working on an agreement.

“Defence faces the challenge of increasing and sustainably safeguarding its personnel readiness”, the declaration states. “Given geopolitical developments and the growing demand for training capacity, cooperation with external trainers is necessary and desirable.”

No obligations

The declaration of intent was already signed at the end of November, but the text only emerged this week. In it, the parties express a ‘joint ambition’. They will increase training capacity ‘in addition to the core activities of Defence’. The cooperation should contribute to  ‘scalable and future-proof armed forces’.

But it also states clearly: “This declaration does not create legal obligations or financial guarantees. It serves as a starting point for further discussions and further policy development.”

Universities

The universities are not among the signatories. Even so, individual universities have long been looking at how they can work with Defence. For example, students in Groningen can take part in the National Resilience Training. The representative council of the University of Groningen recently raised critical questions about it.

The cooperation with Defence also raises new issues at the technical universities. For instance, researchers in Eindhoven note that they are not used to keeping their research secret. Yet Defence sometimes demands confidentiality.

In Twente, researchers are thinking about the dilemmas around dual use: could it be that their civilian inventions end up in military hands in the future? And is that a problem? There will be discussion about that in the coming period, a researcher expects. “Let’s keep disagreeing internally as much as possible, the more careful and better we can make our assessments.”

Framework

Universities association UNL wants to support those discussions further. The umbrella organisation is working with the Ministry of Defence on a ‘framework agreement’ for research. This agreement should make cooperation between universities and Defence easier, a UNL spokesperson says. “The framework agreement concerns the way and conditions for cooperation, not the content.”

It is expected to be ready sometime in the first half of 2026, he says. “After that, it is up to individual universities whether they want to sign it.”