{"id":81960,"date":"2017-12-06T14:58:51","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T13:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=81960"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:54","slug":"chocolademunten-en-handtekeningen-voor-kamerleden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/12\/06\/chocolademunten-en-handtekeningen-voor-kamerleden\/","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate money and signatures for Dutch MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Student Sara van Dinther presented over 60,000 signatures calling for lower tuition fees to Members of the House of Representatives.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

Visitors to The Hague\u2019s Plein could find a group of academics sitting on stools and folding chairs in the shadow of the House of Representatives, with an open laptop on their laps. They actually didn\u2019t even have time to protest, was the message of the petition they were presenting this day.<\/p>\n

Both academic staff and students decided to draw attention to their plight because today the Dutch parliament will be debating the new education and research budget. It is the first budget drawn up by the freshly appointed government, and there was still plenty of opportunity to adjust it \u2013 or so the protesters hope.<\/p>\n

The scholars would like to have a bigger budget so that they can reduce some of the pressure of work. Many academics suffer physical and psychological complaints because they need to work so hard \u2013 even during the weekends and when they\u2019re on holiday, according to Rens Bod. The UvA professor launched<\/a> the present petition<\/a>, which has gained over 5,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

The Dutch Student Union (LSVb) would also be handing over a petition<\/a>. This was an initiative of the second-year student Sara van Dinther, who is enrolled in the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences Mathematics teacher training programme. The students believe it isn\u2019t fair that even though they no longer have a basic grant, they aren\u2019t given the same 50% reduction in their tuition fee<\/a> enjoyed by the next batch of first-year students. The students have collected 64,000 signatures under the rallying cry \u2018I\u2019d also like a 1,000-euro discount on my tuition fee\u2019.<\/p>\n

Polite<\/h3>

First it was the academics\u2019 turn to present their petition, followed by the students. Their audience was made up of MPs from both the larger and smaller parties. The parliamentarians accepted the petitions with a few polite words. Excellent timing, they noted.<\/p>\n

Rens Bod in particular harried them with a range of shocking examples. In some cases, lecturers confess with tears in their eyes that they don\u2019t even have time to read their students\u2019 theses properly, he said. They quickly look over the work and then give it a final mark. \u201cWe\u2019re short-changing our students with this approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A particular bugbear for Bod is the new austerity measure in the works for the education sector \u2013 dubbed an \u2018efficiency reduction\u2019 \u2013 which could run up to 183 million euros. That plan should be swept off the table, he said. \u201cIt would earn you so much goodwill,\u201d he tried to make clear to the MPs. The protesters handed each MP a symbolic measuring cup filled with chocolate money.<\/p>\n

Skeleton in the closet<\/h3>

While MP Harry van der Molen (CDA) understood the petitioners\u2019 demands, the Ministry of Education (OCW) can\u2019t afford to ignore the skeleton it has found in its closet. Van der Molen was referring to the deficit that had developed in OCW\u2019s budget during the term of the previous VVD-PvdA coalition government, which was \u2018too outgoing\u2019 to handle it at the time. The present coalition has already reserved some extra funds, but the remainder has to be covered one way or the other.<\/p>\n

And that is exactly what irked MP Frank Futselaar (SP) about this austerity measure. Because if you\u2019re claiming that education can made more efficient, he said, you should also say how. \u201cThey could suggest wage cuts as far as I\u2019m concerned, or cancelling certain degree programmes or they could tell institutions to stop embarking on adventures in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reduced tuition fee<\/h3>

The academics have high hopes that their petition will produce some result or other. But they are less sure about the impact of the students\u2019 actions. It would take quite a few twists and turns before tuition fees are also halved for senior-year students.<\/p>\n

The coalition parties have only hinted that they may extend the 50% reduction of the tuition fee for second-year PABO students to second-year students in all<\/em> teacher training programmes. But it remains to be seen whether this pans out.<\/p>\n

Mathematics<\/h3>

Sara van Dinther presented the petition herself. No, she doesn\u2019t have any political ambitions, says the Mathematics student. She simply thought it wasn\u2019t fair when she heard the news. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know what a petition was. My parents explained it to me.\u201d But you can always go into politics later on, was her guess. \u201cPaul van Meenen of D66 just told us that he also worked as a Maths teacher until recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

PVV\u2019s Harm Beertema was also walking around Plein. In passing, he offered a journalist the following thought: \u201cYou know what the weird thing is? These students keep voting for the same parties nevertheless. They are getting exactly what they voted for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Futselaar (SP) must have similar thoughts occasionally, but he took a different view: \u201cIt\u2019s a fact that students don\u2019t vote based on their pockets.\u201d His party was also in favour of keeping a basic grant. \u201cNevertheless, students didn\u2019t come out for us in droves. They make other considerations besides. They\u2019re worried about climate change, world peace, the economy. And apparently, the basic grant wasn\u2019t a deal breaker for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discuss<\/h3>

Today the House of Representatives will be meeting to discuss the new education and research budget. At that point, it will become clear how much room there still is for adjustments, and which cards the Minister has up her sleeve to placate the distressed scholars and students.<\/p>\n\n\t

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