{"id":123090,"date":"2021-02-17T14:10:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=123090"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:24","slug":"woinactie-university-staff-on-the-brink-of-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/02\/17\/woinactie-university-staff-on-the-brink-of-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"WOinActie: university staff on the brink of collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Minister Van Engelshoven has to move as quickly as possible to ensure that the number of university researchers and support personnel are expanded by 20 percent. \u201cThere is a desperate need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A large banner makes it clear to anyone walking into the Sanders Building: action is being taken. (September 2018)<\/span><\/p>

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This call<\/a> sent out to the Minister by WOinActie has also been signed by the Algemene Minister Van Engelshoven has to move as quickly as possible to ensure that the number of university researchers and support personnel are expanded by 20 percent. \u201cThere is a desperate need.\u201dOnderwijsbond, FNV trade union and the governance councils of eight Dutch universities.<\/p>\n

Exhausted<\/h2>

\u201cThere are strong signals that researchers and support personnel are becoming completely exhausted\u201d, they wrote. Due to the blended learning and online teaching that\u2019s been used since March 2020, work pressure, which was high to start with, has increased further. Not only lecturers, but schedulers and secretarial staff are also reaching the end of their tether. Moreover, people are absent due to illness, which means that those remaining are even busier.<\/p>\n

The 20 million euros the Minister made available earlier for coronavirus jobs<\/a> in higher education are not enough, the letter says. According to spokesperson Willemien Sanders, lecturer at Utrecht University, much more is needed. \u201cWe just won\u2019t get there with a few extra student assistants and support staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick effect<\/h2>\n\t
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