{"id":81586,"date":"2017-11-08T17:42:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T16:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=81586"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:53","slug":"we-lopen-op-ons-tandvlees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/11\/08\/we-lopen-op-ons-tandvlees\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We operate on a shoestring\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>

University staff all over the country have signed the petition #WOinactie. This petition calls for more money for scientific education to reduce the workload for teaching staff. Last week, a spokesperson for the Executive Board announced that EUR does not support the petition<\/a>. Three EUR staff members respond to this and criticise the pressure of work at EUR.<\/p>\n

Nearing the end of their tether<\/h3>

\u201cWithin the department, we operate on a shoestring,\u201d says PhD student Pieter van den Heede. \u201cThere is a tiny number of staff in proportion to the number of students. As a result, many of my colleagues are nearing the end of their tether and no longer have time for research, despite the fact that we are fundamentally also a research institution. I therefore find it very unfortunate that Erasmus University does not support the petition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping a thousand plates spinning<\/h3>

Bram Steijn, professor of public administration, is currently involved in a research on pressure of work at EUR. He finds it remarkable that the university does not support the petition, since it is not a politically hard petition but just an observation. \u201cI would understand the lack of support from EUR if it was a strategic conviction: so that it wouldn\u2019t weaken their position in the new CAO negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Steijn, the workload at the university is very high. \u201cAbout fifty percent of the staff say that they find the pressure of work too much. I notice myself that I have to keep a thousand plates spinning,\u201d he says. \u201cI work 40 hours a week just answering my mails and then I have to teach as well. I don\u2019t have any time for research. If I want to do that, I have to do it in my spare time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working out of loyalty<\/h3>

According to Gabry Vanderveen, associate professor of Criminology, the overall trend in Dutch education is unhealthy: \u201cDue to structural cuts in education in recent years, the workload has increased so much that staff is stressed out, but continues to work out of loyalty until they drop.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believes that more money must go to education: \u201cPolitics and society need to invest more in education because it benefits society as a whole. Then more teachers can be recruited so that they have less work pressure and smaller classes, and can focus more on individual students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t