Pro-Palestinian activists occupied the The Hague building of university association UNL on 4 June. They want the universities to cut ties with Israel. A large banner reading “Boycott & divest” hangs on the facade, with a banner next to it declaring the universities complicit in genocide. “It's fairly intimidating,” says a UNL spokesman. “We are
You cannot simply withdraw study financing from students who cause damage during occupations and protests. So writes outgoing Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf to the House of Representatives in response to various questions and motions surrounding protests in higher education. Some of those protests ended in riots and destruction. Political parties such as PVV, JA21 and
The large majority of the House of Representatives does not want Chinese PhD candidates on scholarships from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to have access to sensitive fields of research any longer. This was voted on on Tuesday.
Students who, for example, want to do a board year or who are long-term sick could perhaps be exempted from the penalty for slow students, thinks NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt. In the Parlementary debate on the outline agreement for a new Dutch government, he said he plans to look into this ‘carefully’. It is one
Students and their organizations are reacting resentfully to the new coalition agreement, which includes hefty cuts to higher education. Especially the return of the long study fine is an unpleasant surprise.
Fewer international students, significant cuts in higher education and science, and extra money for students belonging to the so-called bad luck generation. These are some of the resolutions in the outline agreement between PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB.
Students from China and Hong Kong studying abroad are being monitored and intimidated by their home country, reports Amnesty International, which also interviewed Chinese students in the Netherlands. They told Amnesty that they were followed online, both by the regime and by fellow students. Also, one in three students say their families have been approached
Over two years after taking office, outgoing Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf has sent his ‘Internationalisering in Balans’ (Internationalisation in Equilibrium) bill to the House of Representatives. As far as he’s concerned, international students continue to be welcome, but institutions will be given ‘instruments’ to manage the influx.
Are you a student travelling by public transport on Wednesday or Thursday? Take note, because Thursday is Ascension Day. Students with a weekend pass (ov-kaart in Dutch, public transport card for students) can then travel for free, while students with a weekly pass only get a discount. The Wednesday before is also different (in Dutch).
Protect open and free science in Europe. That call is made by the national academies of science, including the Dutch KNAW, ahead of the European elections on Thursday 6 June. For science, internationalisation is an important issue. After incidents with China and the war in Ukraine, some European member states distrust the international cooperation and
