{"id":68694,"date":"2017-03-22T17:48:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T16:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2017\/03\/22\/bussemaker-geld-basisbeurs-alleen-voor-onderwijs-bestemd\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:40","slug":"bussemaker-geld-basisbeurs-alleen-voor-onderwijs-bestemd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/03\/22\/bussemaker-geld-basisbeurs-alleen-voor-onderwijs-bestemd-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bussemaker: Freed-up base grant money exclusively intended for education"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last Monday, the new report Van afvinken naar aanvonken<\/em> (\u2018From ticking boxes to sparking the flame\u2019) could count on a particularly miffed response<\/a> from the two national student unions ISO and LSVb. In the report, the committee advised allowing research universities and universities of applied sciences to use the money from the terminated base grant for other purposes besides improving the quality of their education programmes.<\/p>\n

The unions\u2019 criticism is shared by outgoing Education Minister Bussemaker. In a brief letter to Parliament<\/a>, the Minister emphasised that the money is intended for improving higher education. \u201cI see no reason to deviate from this course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the Netherlands\u2019 base grant has been abolished, freeing up hundreds of millions of euro for research universities and universities of applied sciences, the Dutch legislative intends to make \u2018quality agreements\u2019. But what will they entail? A committee headed by the King\u2019s Commissioner Wim van de Donk was tasked with advising government on the matter.<\/p>\n

Officialese<\/h3>

Cushioning its statements in careful officialese, the committee wrote<\/a> of the interrelation between education, research and valorisation. \u201cIn other words, assets that are intended for education quality can be used for a broader range of purposes than education quality alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students clearly disagree. And the research universities and universities of applied sciences also hastened to announce that they don\u2019t plan to break any existing promises. A number of other points in the report also met with heavy criticism.<\/p>\n

But Minister Bussemaker hasn\u2019t committed herself any further. She applauds the committee\u2019s work, speaking of \u201cvaluable recommendations for the elaboration of future quality agreements\u201d. In the closing period of her office, the Minister will be preparing these quality agreements. \u201cI will be leaving decisions on this matter to the next Cabinet\u201d.<\/p>\n

Performance agreements<\/h3>

The past few years saw an experiment with performance agreements in the higher education sector. The Dutch research universities and universities of applied sciences made agreements with the Ministry of Education about matters like students\u2019 progress, drop-out rates in the first year and further education for academic staff. Institutions that fail to meet their agreements would be docked a share of their funding. And indeed, this has happened to six universities of applied sciences.<\/p>\n

The Van de Donk Committee was asked to determine what we can learn from this experiment and to make recommendations for the future.<\/p>\n

Meer over prestatiebekostiging<\/h2>