Fifteen researchers and students have been denied dispensation to do specific subjects and projects at a Dutch university or university of applied sciences in the past five years. This was because, after screening, there was too high a risk of leaking sensitive knowledge.
In total, universities and colleges applied for exemptions for over two thousand students and researchers. They need it to study or do research in a “high-risk” field such as nuclear physics or missile technology.
Two rejections
Of the fifteen waivers not granted, two were outright rejections, writes minister Eppo Bruins to the House of Representatives. In addition, thirteen were advised that there was an increased safety risk.
Universities and colleges have had to apply for waivers for all participants in specific subjects and projects since 2019. This is required due to international regulations. Countries such as Iran, North Korea and Russia are not allowed to acquire knowledge that would allow them to make better (nuclear) weapons, for example, the international community believes.
New regulations
This current regulation of applying for exemptions is coming to an end. Soon it will be included in a screening of students and scientists within a much larger number of sensitive subject areas. TU Delft’s security committee currently already screens around seven hundred cases of foreign researchers and students a year, reports NOS. That number will increase significantly with the new regulation, according to Bruins.
Universities and science society KNAW are worried about this new screening, which they say harms international cooperation. Universities, already facing budget cuts, cannot have these costs added to them, UNL said in a press release.
Mainly on technical universities
Each year, it is estimated that some eight thousand researchers and master’s students will have to go through the screening because of their interest in subjects such as quantum cryptography, generative AI or radar technology. These are topics mainly at technical universities and therefore the new scheme will affect them the most. How the new screening will affect the way things work at TU Delft is not yet clear. (HOP, BB, Delta, IE)
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