{"id":157374,"date":"2023-07-12T12:31:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T10:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=157374"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:52","slug":"when-mark-rutte-was-state-secretary-he-called-on-students-to-occupy-university-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/07\/12\/when-mark-rutte-was-state-secretary-he-called-on-students-to-occupy-university-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"When Mark Rutte was state secretary, he called on students to occupy university buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime minister Mark Rutte is quitting politics. He will not be putting himself forward as leader of the VVD in the upcoming elections, he said Monday morning. What kind of influence did he have on higher education?<\/p>\n

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Prime minister Mark Rutte (of the VVD)<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoel Wijnants<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Mark Rutte will go down in history as the longest serving prime minister of the Netherlands, in office even longer than Ruud Lubbers or Willem Drees. His name will forever be associated with the coronavirus crisis, the childcare benefits scandal, damages caused by gas drilling in Groningen and the apology for slavery.<\/p>\n

But right before he took office as prime minister in 2010, the world looked very different. What did the leader of the VVD regard as his biggest political blunder then? \u201cCalling on students to occupy university buildings in 2005, when I was state secretary for education\u201d, he revealed<\/a> to journalists at NRC<\/em>. \u201cWhich even led to an official report being filed against me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tape, coffee<\/h2>

It was indeed a remarkable time. As state secretary for higher education (2004-2006), Rutte liked to stir things up. If students were unsatisfied with their programmes, then they should occupy a faculty for a couple of days, Rutte said on the TV news programme Netwerk<\/em>. \u201cThere are very practical means available. You have to buy tape and find the box where the fuses are \u2013 make a list. I\u2019m going to explain everything to you guys.\u201d He said he\u2019d be coming round for coffee.<\/p>\n

Not long afterwards, students occupied the Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam in protest against Rutte\u2019s own plans. And no, he didn\u2019t ever come round for coffee. The building was cleared and the protesters had to pay fines. That\u2019s when student organisations filed an official report against Rutte for incitement, because, after all, he had called for a sit-in.<\/p>\n

Begeisterung<\/h2>

How did it get so far? As state secretary for higher education, Rutte was not especially afraid to make enemies. He wanted<\/a> to see Begeisterung <\/em>\u2013 enthusiasm \u2013 he said, and he wasn\u2019t seeing enough of it. He tried everything to get administrators to make changes. For example, he launched a bureaucracy metre (in a drive to bring down overhead costs), and he campaigned<\/a> for a ranking of good and bad educational institutions. \u201cThat will hit administrators where it hurts, in their egos\u201d, he predicted.<\/p>\n

But that was just the warm up. More notable were his plans to make substantial changes to higher education. He advocated stricter selection procedures for programmes, as well as variable tuition fees \u2013 after all, good programmes ought to be able to ask for a little more. Competition between higher education institutions was fine by him. \u201cYou can only sell an A-brand if it\u2019s top quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when he announced he was going to step down as state secretary for higher education and become leader of the VVD, the activist students in the Dutch Student Union didn\u2019t shed a tear. \u201cRutte turned out to be a bit of a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing\u201d, former vice chair Stef Beek said at the time. \u201cHe presents himself as if he\u2019s students\u2019 best friend, while at the same time making space for market principles and sky-high tuition in higher education. When he steps down, I\u2019ll send him a bunch of flowers. I\u2019ll be glad to see his back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Study entitlements<\/h2>

An even more fundamental change was his plan for \u2018study entitlements\u2019. The funding for higher education ought to go with the students, he believed. From then on, students would be given a kind of credit voucher that they could spend at the higher education institution of their choice. If students were dissatisfied with their degree programme, they could then \u2018vote with their feet\u2019 by choosing a different university. This would force programmes to up the quality of their offerings.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it would force students to work fast: you could get an extra two years, but after that your study entitlements would expire. After which, you\u2019d have to pay for your degree yourself. The latter idea was to return sometime later as the \u2018long student fine\u2019 for slow students. Neither of these proposals made it into law, and each time it was because of the fall of the government.<\/p>\n

Basic student grant<\/h2>

Where he was successful was in abolishing the basic student grant as of September 2015. At that time he was no longer state secretary but prime minister. His coalition government of VVD and PvdA (Rutte II) cut a deal with the opposition parties D66 and GroenLinks. Instead of receiving a basic student grant, students would only be allowed to take out a student loan. However, the supplementary grant was increased and repayment terms were made more flexible.<\/p>\n

This, too, failed to garner success. After eight years there\u2019s been a complete about-face: as of September 2023, students will again receive the basic student grant, and those who missed out will receive a small compensation package. But this is most likely against Rutte\u2019s own wishes because he has always defending getting rid of the basic student grant.<\/p>\n\n\t

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