{"id":173256,"date":"2024-11-11T16:50:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T15:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=173256"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:35","slug":"activism-on-the-bosss-time-higher-education-institutions-support-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/11\/11\/activism-on-the-bosss-time-higher-education-institutions-support-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Activism on the boss\u2019s time: higher education institutions support protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several higher education institutions are calling upon their students and staff to protest against the government\u2019s cutbacks on Thursday 14 November. Staff are given time off and some institutions also reimburse travel expenses.<\/p>\n

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Minister Eppo Bruins (right) faced strong criticism from Executive Board Chair Annelien Bredenoord during the Opening of the Academic Year over the proposed budget cuts.<\/span><\/p>

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It may well get very busy on Domplein in Utrecht next Thursday, as higher education institutions are making it as easy as possible for their students and staff to go there to protest against the cutbacks in higher education.<\/p>\n\t

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Executive Board encourages participation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Executive Board of Erasmus University also supports the protest action and has recently announced that it will attend the protest together with the deans. Staff are encouraged to take part but must first confirm with their supervisor to ensure there are no overriding reasons why their presence on campus would be required. Teachers must make sure that any missed course material is subsequently covered. For students, there is no attendance requirement on 14 November, except for patient care activities and compulsory practicals. The university will not reimburse travel costs for those attending the protest, but FNV and AOB union members can obtain a free train ticket from their union.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Resit<\/h2>

At least ten universities are giving their staff time off, a survey of the institutions shows. Many administrators want to lead by example and announce they\u2019ll be joining the march.<\/p>\n

Universities of applied sciences are protesting as well. Saxion, Avans and HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht are amongst the ones indicating they are encouraging staff to make their voices heard. Avans students can skip their exam on Thursday and concentrate on the resit, a spokesperson says, but they will not be given an extra<\/em> resit for this occasion.<\/p>\n

At Radboud University Nijmegen, activists announce they may<\/a> come to Utrecht with a thousand people. The idea is for the activists to gather in the local Moreelsepark, right next to Central Station, at one o\u2019clock on Thursday afternoon. After that, everyone will march to Domplein, where the protest will end at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Train ticket<\/h2>

To allow staff to join the protest, Maastricht University is paying for their train tickets (around 55 euros there and back). Leiden University and Saxion University of Applied Sciences also promise to reimburse staff\u2019s travel expenses.<\/p>\n

Marileen Dogterom, director of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, will join the protest march and calls upon her employees to come send the government a \u201cclear signal\u201d. The biggest opposition party, GroenLinks-PvdA, also plans to come to Utrecht to make clear they\u2019re against the government\u2019s cutbacks.<\/p>\n

Free museum<\/h2>

In May, the coalition parties announced<\/a> they\u2019re cutting higher education by hundreds of millions of euros, through the exclusion of international students and introduction of a slow-progress penalty, amongst other things. Also, less money will go to scientific research. A few weeks ago, it became clear<\/a> that the Dutch Research Council will get even less money than initially anticipated.<\/p>\n

The protest is an initiative by unions such as AOb, FNV and CNV and the Dutch Student Union, together with WOinActie. The Utrecht Hortus Botanicus and University Museum support the protest: they will be freely accessible on Thursday \u201cto show everyone how valuable science is to society\u201d, says a spokesperson of Utrecht University.<\/p>\n\n\t

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