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TU Delft will join the relay strikes on 24 April. In her first Delta column, Sofía Gighliani highlights how the cuts in Dutch higher education have their effects beyond the national borders.
(Photo: Sam Rentmeester)
Fellow international students! On 24 April TU Delft will join the relay strikes. What does this mean for us, the international students that make up a quarter of the student populace?
Although TU Delft’s central management has already filed budget reduction measures, and this is starting to be noticed in the many layoffs in student jobs and in the projects that have come to a halt, the hardest loss in the quality of education will probably take some time. In the interim, most international students who are currently enrolled might have graduated or even moved outside of the Netherlands, so thinking that the measures will not impact us seems natural. However, these measures reflect complicated realities and their affects go beyond the study timeline.
Similar measures might continue.
The recent EUR 1.3 billion reduction in the educational budget may only be the beginning. Revisions in the Spring and Autumn Memoranda may bring more cuts and, considering the global situation, this would not be surprising. Striking now means not only striking against the EUR 1.3 billion that has already passed through Parliament, but will be an additional and crucial step against the further financial depreciation of education.
The cuts will have a national impact.
Education is an investment on the future: on the research, citizens, parents, educators and – dare I say – politicians of tomorrow. For anyone living in the Netherlands, it makes sense to worry about this. Especially in a highly educated population such as the Netherlands, education highly impacts the way in which a society develops and functions.
There is a global shift towards the extremes
The cuts will even have an international impact.
A quarter of the students are not Dutch, and many return to where they used to live, or move somewhere else. TU Delft has a world-wide impact. Research carried out at TU Delft pushes different perspectives across the globe and educates people that will affect the world. It is not for nothing that TU Delft ranks so high amongst other universities. Even reflecting on the current wealth of the Netherlands, with respect to its colonial history, it seems fair for this wealth to be invested in the world through thinking about the future and globally impacting education and research.
Such measures of depreciation reflect a global tendency.
There is a global shift towards the extremes: cuts on educational budgets and depreciation of funds for the state’s institutions are coming together with nationalist and populist discourses around the globe. As an Argentinian, I wish I could join the strikes against the harsh and short-termed measurements of our government. However, when seeing the situation as a global trend without national borders, the importance of mobilizing not for a country but for the globe becomes evident.
For these reasons I want to address all international students by saying that striking in the Netherlands is not about striking for TU Delft or for this country, but for the education worldwide and for its future.
Sofía Ghigliani is a master’s student in Architecture. Born and raised in Argentina, she has since lived in various places, embracing different cultures and languages. She has an energetic presence, laughs often and loves to get out of her comfort zone, especially through hitchhiking and philosophy.
Do you have a question or comment about this article?
S.I.Ghigliani@student.tudelft.nl
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