{"id":85220,"date":"2018-03-16T09:10:57","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T08:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=85220"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:51:36","slug":"we-willen-minder-rendementsdenken-en-meer-oog-voor-kwaliteit-en-ontwikkeling-van-het-onderwijs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/03\/16\/we-willen-minder-rendementsdenken-en-meer-oog-voor-kwaliteit-en-ontwikkeling-van-het-onderwijs\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We want less focus on returns and a better eye for quality and the development of the curricula\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

English-language education, pressure of work, fear of borrowing\u2026 Politicians need to take it slowly, warns Dutch Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven (D66). She\u2019d prefer not to cook up any new rules or national standards, calling it a \u201cfacile reflex\u201d.<\/p>\n

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At some point in her life, she wants to study again. In fact, notes Ingrid van Engelshoven, she already is in her spare time. The same way other people relax with an evening of Netflix, she likes to browse through the free online lectures and courses on Coursera<\/em>. And listen to a lecture about international security by Leiden professor Edwin Bakker, for example. \u201cI love that sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she doesn\u2019t have much spare time anymore. Van Engelshoven has been Minister of Education in the third Rutte government for almost five months now. And as she likes to emphasise, this is the first time a D66 member is handling this ministry. \u201cEducation, culture, equal rights and science\u2026 I have a fantastic portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quality agreements<\/h2>

Will there be any obvious clues for the higher education sector that it\u2019s dealing with a D66 Minister? Van Engelshoven gives us a whole list, but the key pointer would be \u2018quality agreements\u2019 with research universities and universities of applied sciences about the allocation of the \u2018student grant advance\u2019 (studievoorschotmiddelen<\/em>) \u2013 i.e. the millions freed up by the termination of the basic grant scheme.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018We won\u2019t be adding any new national standards\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The new loan system has made studying thousands of euros more expensive, but this is offset by a key improvement: better education. After all, the higher education sector will be adding hundreds of millions of euros to its budget. The question remains whether this additional funding will become money well spent. Which is why the Ministry will be working with \u2018quality agreements\u2019. And these will be markedly different from the concrete \u2018performance agreements\u2019 of old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t be adding any new national standards,\u201d says a determined Van Engelshoven. \u201cWe want less focus on returns and a better eye for quality and the development of the curricula. We won\u2019t be determining which steps the universities of applied sciences and research universities need to take to improve their education programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participation<\/h2>
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In that case, who checks whether everything is running smoothly? In the true spirit of D66, the \u2018democratisation party\u2019, Van Engelshoven passes the buck to the participation councils. In these representative bodies, students and lecturers meet with university administrators to discuss how funds should be allocated. \u201cIt has to be absolutely clear to us that plans were properly discussed with the representative bodies. This will be a responsibility of the institutions themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the unfortunate event that this hasn\u2019t happened? Particularly the student members of participation councils complain of their weak bargaining position. They are given little time to prepare themselves for this role and reimbursements can vary considerably. Administrators are in a far stronger position. Recently, one of the UvA student parties even dissolved<\/a> out of frustration with their limited options to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen students tell me they aren\u2019t given enough opportunity to prepare, I\u2019m definitely listening,\u201d says Van Engelshoven. She wants universities of applied sciences and research universities to jointly determine the minimum amount of support that should be afforded to the student representatives. These agreements need to be recorded and enforced.<\/p>\n

In addition, the Ministry will be setting up a kind of information desk that the members of participation councils can turn to with their questions.<\/p>\n

Within the ranks<\/h2>

Where do the members of these representative bodies actually get their information from? The universities of applied sciences in particular have very few independent news channels. And every now and then, these internal outlets also come under pressure within the research universities. \u201cI believe these independent media organisations are very important,\u201d says Van Engelshoven. \u201cWe need to put more emphasis on them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I believe these independent media organisations are very important\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

After all, research universities and universities of applied sciences would like to see less supervision on the Ministry\u2019s part: they prefer to talk with their own students and lecturers. And Van Engelshoven agrees. \u201cI\u2019m willing to put my head on the block for this, but they need to help me raise confidence in this approach. And this includes press scrutiny from within the ranks. Internal media outlets can help raise critical questions like: how does this work exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n

Workload<\/h2>

But some problems may prove less easy to solve with a bit more participation or an independent press. The research universities in particular complain of having to handle more and more students, with less and less funding per student. And, hardly surprising, this has ramped up their workload and put their education activities under pressure, according to the universities. Concerned academics and unions are already preparing new protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Van Engelshoven brushes these fears aside. After all, the cancellation of the basic grant scheme has freed up new funds that can be spent on higher education. We\u2019re talking about hundreds of millions of euros here. And research will also be allocated a cool extra 400 million: \u201cFar from negligible. I\u2019m glad that we will be investing on this scale. No other sector will be getting as much extra money as education.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the workload then? These stories about the pressure of work are real enough, Van Engelshoven hastens to add. But maybe the universities of applied sciences and research universities should take their share of the blame: \u201cin many cases, it isn\u2019t even caused by the requirements set by national legislation.\u201d According to the Minister, educational institutions are themselves to blame for \u2018a feeling of high pressure of work\u2019 among their employees, due to all the rules and regulations they\u2019ve adopted.<\/p>\n

Smarter<\/h2>

Try and be a bit more creative, is her advice. The education sector could benefit a great deal from new methods like \u2018blended learning\u2019, which combines online and regular education activities. \u201cI think this is an interesting innovation and I\u2019ve noticed that students themselves are actually asking for it.\u201d Education could be made smarter and more up-to-date, according to Van Engelshoven.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018The education sector could benefit a great deal from new methods like blended learning\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

You\u2019d almost think she means \u2018more efficient\u2019. The universities of applied sciences and research universities need to economise a bit more to cover a deficit in the Ministry\u2019s budget. This cut has been included in the budget under the header \u2018more efficient education\u2019. When lecturers make their education activities more efficient by adopting \u2018blended learning\u2019, will the government grasp this as an opportunity to make some cuts?<\/p>\n

Van Engelshoven seems miffed by the very suggestion. \u201cI get that you\u2019re trying to trigger a response, but it\u2019s a bit unfair. For me, these are two completely separate issues. The previous government left a budget deficit \u2013 one part of which has been resolved, while the other still has to be covered. And it had to be given some label or other.\u201d She would have preferred a different name, hints the Minister.<\/p>\n

International students<\/h2>

Back to the workload then. This is also caused by there being far more students than there used to be. Which is due, in part, to a new influx of international students. More and more programmes are offered in English, with Dutch nationals actually forming a minority in dozens of programmes. The BON action committee has announced that it be instituting proceedings <\/a>against English-language education.<\/p>\n

Van Engelshoven is unruffled by the news. She calls it an \u2018interesting dilemma\u2019 and emphasises that the Netherlands can\u2019t do without internationalisation. The intake of international students helps improve the quality of the education programmes and benefits the Dutch private sector. \u201cI recently visited ASML, the manufacturer of photolithography systems. We serve a global market, is what they told me, so they\u2019re looking for people who know their way around other countries. And in some sector, we basically have a shortage of qualified professionals. So it\u2019s a good idea to welcome foreign talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she recognises that we should also safeguard the quality of our education. And maybe this quality comes under pressure when certain programmes are swamped with international students. \u201cWe need to keep our lecture halls in balance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Except this isn\u2019t solved with a single measure, warns Van Engelshoven. \u201cWe need to maintain a sense of balance when discussing this issue, because there\u2019s a lot at stake. International students are a source of income for the Netherlands. Many of them stay around and generate extra economic growth. Take Italy, for example. A lot of programmes there are offered in Italian, and the country can hardly be called a frontrunner in international academic research.\u201d<\/p>\n

She isn\u2019t in favour of a freeze for international students. \u201cI want to avoid this predictable overreaction, in the shape of some new policy measure: \u2018We need to stop this Anglification \u2013 let\u2019s set percentages!\u2019.\u201d She doesn\u2019t want to reveal what she has in mind yet, however, or which options are being considered. But one thing\u2019s for sure: \u201cIt won\u2019t be \u2018one size fits all\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

Accessibility<\/h2>

Doesn\u2019t it all sound a bit vague and remote? One of the new government\u2019s measures couldn\u2019t be more concrete, however: first-year tuition fees will be cut by 50%. And the same applies for students entering the second year of a teacher training programme.<\/p>\n\n\t

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As far as accessibility is concerned: wouldn\u2019t it have been better if the government raised the supplementary grant? Now students from rich families are also benefiting from this provision \u2013 even though they probably didn\u2019t feel that much of an obstacle to begin with. Van Engelshoven has no trouble presenting her position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 50% cut is also good news for students from a median-income background. And let\u2019s not exaggerate the issue of accessibility. Students can borrow money at a very low interest rate. A few parties that opposed the loan system are warning us about a fear of borrowing among students, but so far this doesn\u2019t seem the case. We ended up removing the tick box for \u2018borrow maximum amount\u2019 in DUO.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Ingrid van Engelshoven (1966) served as the party chair for D66 and Deputy Mayor of Education in The Hague. After attending secondary school in Belgium, Van Engelshoven moved to the Netherlands to study Political Science at Radboud University Nijmegen and Law at Leiden University. She has worked as a policy officer for D66\u2019s party group in the House of Representatives, was a partner in a consultancy and served as Director of Stichting Verantwoord Alcoholgebruik (STIVA), a sector initiative set up by the manufacturers and importers of beer, wine and spirits.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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