Universities do not have to offer employment to international PhD candidates with scholarships. Minister of Education Dijkgraaf considers this too costly, was his answer to a CDA parliamentary motion. This surprised the PhD Network Netherlands.
Break at the TPM faculty of TU Delft. (Photo: Thijs van Reeuwijk).
There are currently about 3,800 non-Dutch PhD candidates working on their doctorates at Dutch universities. Four hundred and forty-six of them are at TU Delft. Many of them receive grants that are significantly lower than the minimum wage.
As these so-called ‘bursalen’, or grant recipients, do not have official employment contracts, they have no right to childcare support and are not protected by a CAO (collective labour agreement) (in Dutch). Research by Delta in June shows that, on top of this, their rights and the amount of support they receive vary according to university, faculty and subject area.
Given these circumstances, five Dutch universities are topping up the grants to the minimum wage level, while others are not doing so. PhD candidates with scholarships are thus finding it very hard to make ends meet.
Nationwide agreements
It was for these reasons that members of the House of Representatives unanimously accepted a motion (in Dutch) by the CDA party that called on the Government to make nationwide fiscal agreements on how PhD candidates with scholarships should be treated. But the Minister ignored the motion, he writes in a response.
It states that he, Dijkgraaf, sees no point in nationwide agreements. He also does not think that hiring PhD candidates with scholarships – as PhD Network Netherlands suggested in September – is a good idea. He writes that this would cost too much money. “And this would mean that fewer PhD candidates could come to the Netherlands through these types of programmes.”
Dijkgraaf is not the first Government administrator to find it unnecessary for Dutch universities to offer their PhD candidates with scholarships employment as a matter of course. In 2019, the then Minister of Education, Ingrid van Engelshoven, came to the same conclusion (in Dutch).
Four categories of PhD candidates
PhD candidates at Dutch universities are financed in different ways. The Universities of The Netherlands umbrella organisation recognised four categories of PhD candidates, all of which are represented at TU Delft. These are:
- 446 of the 3,253 PhD candidates at TU Delft have scholarships. They receive a grant – often from a national or regional government body in their own country – and use it for their doctoral research at TU Delft;
- 2,378 TU Delft PhD candidates are employed. They receive a salary, fall under a CAO, and are entitled to various provisions by TU Delft, the municipality, and the Dutch Government.
- 295 PhD candidates are externally financed, mostly through industry.
- about 69 PhD external doctoral candidates mostly pay their doctoral programme themselves.
The first and the last two groups are not employed by TU Delft. They sign a hospitality agreement.
Tax agreements
From 2009 onwards (in Dutch), TU Delft topped up the grants, but this has since stopped. The five universities that currently top up the grants of PhD candidates have made special agreements with local tax advisors.
Unless they make these agreements, they could face extra taxation. The Tax Authority may view the top-up amount as a form of salary payments, which are subject to premiums and taxes.
Top three countries of origin
Where do the TU Delft PhD candidates with scholarships come from?
- China: 68.7%.
- Indonesia: 4.7%
- Iran: 2.4%
Nationwide solution
In theory, a nationwide solution is possible, write civil servants in an advisory (in Dutch) to Minister Dijkgraaf. They suggest that Dutch universities could opt for a standard contract which could be checked with the Tax Authority. Local agreements about topping up the grants would then no longer be needed.
However, in practice this would work differently, say the Ministry of Education administrators. The Tax Authority has informed the Ministry of Education that it is ‘reluctant’ to agree to a standard contract.
Levelling the playing field
Instead, the minister is asking universities to level the playing field themselves, he writes in his letter to the House. Universities could make agreements among themselves on how they deal with scholarship PhDs. But above all, he says, foreign PhD students should be ‘better informed in advance about what to expect when they come to the Netherlands for their PhD research’.
President Benthe van Wanrooij of Promovendi Netwerk Nederland is surprised that the minister is shrugging off the problem. “The minister simply does not implement the motion, nor does he give any guidance on how universities can properly supplement the scholarships.” Nevertheless, she hopes that the ‘do look for a solution to the precarious situation of these PhD students’.
HOP, Olmo Linthorst/Delta, Annebelle de Bruijn
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