Zeeuws University College fires a quarter of its staff; students strike in solidarity

Students at the Dutch Zeeland-based University College Roosevelt went on strike Monday in solidarity with staff members who are at risk of losing their jobs. A quarter of the staff will be laid off, the institution announced last week.

University College Roosevelt (UCR), which is part of Utrecht University and offers an English-language liberal arts program, is cutting twenty out of its eighty positions to save costs. International enrollment is declining, and with it, the revenue. This week, it will be announced which staff members will lose their jobs.

Around seventy students attended a lecture on Monday morning, as part of the strike. They are striking “in solidarity with the approximately twenty people who will have to leave,” said striker and UCR student Nienke. “We have no demands. But we do want to show that we are dissatisfied with the level of transparency and involvement in this reorganization. The student representatives in the participation council have given advice, but nothing is being done with it.”

Twente and Delft

Other universities are also having to make cuts. For example, the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Twente will eliminate 63 positions. This is expected to save 6.2 million euros.

TU Delft also needs to make significant cuts, as was announced in early February. Each faculty must come up with plans to reduce expenses by 10 percent. Layoffs are “not the preferred option” for the administrators, but they are not ruling them out either.

Fred Veer, chair of the unions at TU, told Delta that he is far from reassured. “If you translate that (the situation at UT, red) to TU Delft, I arrive at about 800 people who would need to go.” (HOP, OL/Delta, KB)