{"id":167509,"date":"2024-05-08T14:04:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T12:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=167509"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:19","slug":"investigation-into-duo-fraud-hunt-nominated-for-loep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/05\/08\/investigation-into-duo-fraud-hunt-nominated-for-loep\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigation into DUO fraud hunt nominated for \u2018Loep\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The publications about discrimination in the fraud hunt of student grant provider DUO, which led to an apology from the government, are nominated for the Dutch-Flemish prize for investigative journalism: the Loep<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Investico, the Higher Education Press Agency HOP and NOSop3 are in the race for a Loep in the \u2018investigative journalism\u2019 category. They jointly broke out the news<\/a> about discrimination by DUO last year.<\/p>\n

Apologies<\/h2>

The basic grant for those living away from home is about two thousand euros a year higher than the basic grant for those living at home. DUO uses home visits to check whether students are indeed living on their own or not. A lot went wrong<\/a> in this process.<\/p>\n

Remarkably often, DUO targeted students with a non-western migration background. Cultural differences and dubious circumstances were not considered, even though DUO lost one out of four court cases. The government has since apologised<\/a> for \u2018indirect discrimination\u2019 and is commissioning an investigation into the system.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t