{"id":98693,"date":"2019-05-15T15:51:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T13:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=98693"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:19","slug":"van-rijn-reduce-perverse-incentive-and-spend-larger-share-of-budget-on-science-and-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/05\/15\/van-rijn-reduce-perverse-incentive-and-spend-larger-share-of-budget-on-science-and-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Rijn: Reduce perverse incentive and spend larger share of budget on science and engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research universities and universities of applied sciences should be less dependent on student intake for their budgets, according to the Van Rijn Committee. In addition, it recommends investing a larger share of the existing budget in the exact sciences and engineering.<\/p>\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\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

While higher education and research in the Netherlands are of high quality, they won\u2019t be able to maintain this level much longer, according to recommendations presented this morning by an advisory committee. According to the committee \u2013 headed by former State Secretary Martin van Rijn \u2013 students and lecturers are under increasing pressure, and education and research activities are no longer in balance. What\u2019s more: the student-dependent reimbursement for universities amounts to a \u2018perverse mechanism\u2019 that could draw institutions into a \u2018race to the bottom\u2019.<\/p>\n

The existing system is insufficiently transparent (\u2018we\u2019re steering in the fog\u2019) and encourages institutions to recruit as many students as possible \u2013 by launching English-language programmes and new curricula, among other measures. This leads to capacity issues and intake freezes \u2013 even among programmes in the exact sciences and engineering. Moreover, all these education activities threaten to push research aside, warns Van Rijn, since research-related income is out of step with the growth in student intake.<\/p>\n

This perverse incentive for growth needs to be dialled back, says the committee \u2013 and quickly too. It recommends increasing the fixed component of the education-related budget and reducing the variable, student-dependent component as soon as 2020. The shift would concern 300 million euros in the academic higher education (WO) segment, and 250 million in higher professional education (HBO).<\/p>\n

In the longer term, the committee believes it is important that student intake quota and the budgets awarded to degree programmes take closer account of the actual needs of the labour market.<\/p>\n

Science and engineering<\/h2>

One of Van Rijn\u2019s more controversial recommendations is to plough most of the funds freed up by this budget revision \u2013 to the amount of 250 million euros \u2013 into science and engineering programmes. These programmes will, however, be expected to put more energy into collaborations with other programmes as well as improving their students\u2019 academic performance.<\/p>\n

The remaining 50 million euros are intended for universities with a relatively large number of \u2018external switchers\u2019, i.e. students who transfer to a programme at a different institution \u2013 Leiden University and both Amsterdam universities, for example. The Van Rijn Committee doesn\u2019t think it will be necessary to reserve additional funds for transfer students who want to attend a master programme at university level.<\/p>\n

The result of all these recommendations is that a net amount of 70 million euros will be shifted between various universities over the course of 2019. The main beneficiaries of this redistribution will be the four technical universities; the institutions \u2018losing out\u2019 in this reshuffle are the three younger universities (Maastricht, Tilburg and Rotterdam) and the Open University. It doesn\u2019t become clear from the report which disciplines will be hit hardest by the budget changes.<\/p>\n

The universities of applied sciences won\u2019t be awarded any extra funds for their science and engineering programmes. The entire redistributed amount will be advanced to HBO institutions with relatively large numbers of external switchers, like InHolland, The Hague University of Applied Sciences and NHL Stenden. This puts the total redistributed amount in higher professional education in 2019 at 21.4 million euros.<\/p>\n\n\t

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