{"id":199480,"date":"2026-09-17T13:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=199480"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:16:10","slug":"collegevoorzitter-over-powerhouses-als-we-niets-doen-lopen-we-tegen-een-muur-aan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/09\/17\/collegevoorzitter-over-powerhouses-als-we-niets-doen-lopen-we-tegen-een-muur-aan\/","title":{"rendered":"University president on powerhouses: ‘If we do nothing, we will hit a wall’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just before the summer, the Executive Board and the deans announced the outlines of a potentially far-reaching plan for the future. The university wants to cluster faculties to become more resilient in the face of looming threats, such as declining student numbers and shifting government budgets. Chair of the Executive Board Annelien Bredenoord on the need for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\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\tArie Kers<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When did you first think: we need to do things differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Two or three years ago, I gradually began to realise that a great deal is coming our way at universities. At the time, I was on the committee advising the European Commission on the future Horizon programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A lot is changing demographically, and student numbers are falling. On the one hand, because there are fewer 18-year-olds, and on the other because of agreements to reduce the number of international students. As a result, there will be forty thousand fewer students at Dutch universities in 2031. At the same time, we have seen funding per student decline for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Jetten government is fortunately reversing most of the 1.5 billion euros in cuts to higher education, but we have been calling for more investment for years because of the high workload. And much of the investment that is coming is going to STEM \u2013 science, technology, engineering and mathematics \u2013 and defence. On top of that, there is a stronger focus on border regions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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\n\t\t'All in all, we expect to be vulnerable. We do not want to sit around waiting for that vulnerability to catch up with us'\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It sounds as if this will have consequences within a few years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is already happening. The growth of recent years has come to an end. The EUR is the only university that is stabilising (the number of first-year students remained unchanged this year, while it fell at other universities, ed.). But after that, unfortunately, the inevitable decline will come.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes the EUR specifically more vulnerable than other universities?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The EUR is exceptionally strong in our core fields: economics, management, social sciences, law and medicine. But STEM is not part of our university’s identity. We are not in a border region. All in all, we expect to be vulnerable. We do not want to sit around waiting for that vulnerability to catch up with us. We are going to focus on what we are good at and make sure we are indispensable and fully relevant in 2030. That is how the plan came about.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose we do nothing. What happens then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“First, our quality, excellence and relevance will suffer. And secondly, we will run into financial problems, genuine deficits. Whether you are a company, a university or another organisation, you must keep renewing yourself. Otherwise, you become Nokia, which always thought: we are a frontrunner. And eventually nobody knows Nokia anymore.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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