Dossier
Budget cuts
Higher education is in dire financial straits. TU Delft, too, cannot escape cutbacks. What does it all mean? In this file we will keep you informed.
Universities once again welcomed fewer international bachelor’s students this academic year. Also, the number of Dutch first-year students fell by 3.5 per cent. TU Delft seems to be an exception to this trend.
The Works Council and Student Council will advise the Executive Board on TU Delft’s austerity plans after all. This transpired at the meeting between the Executive Board and the representation bodies on Thursday 30 October.
The Dutch Senate has approved the supplementary education budget for 2025, which includes more than 400 million euros in additional cuts. A motion by D66 and others to scrap these cuts was rejected.
Like the faculties, University Services and the Executive Board will have to make significant cutbacks in the coming years. What choices will they make? Almost all support processes will be affected – from personnel policy to catering and from ICT to strategic partnerships.
At the end of September the Executive Board announced that all faculties and university services are required to roll out their plans to reduce expenditures over the next few years. What do the faculties’ cutback plans entail?
No forced redundancies, vacancies that will not be filled, and doing less maintenance of equipment. These measures are how the faculties and services are planning to meet their cost reduction requirements as can be read in plans that were published last week. Staff members are concerned about increasing workloads, not having a voice, and losing control.
Will the Works Council and the Student Council have enough of a say in the austerity plans? The representation bodies fear not. This is why, at a public meeting with the Executive Board last Thursday, the Works Council Chair, Ronald Kuil, pushed for sufficient time and opportunity to express their views.
Students will see a one percent increase in purchasing power next year. Student organisations consider this insufficient: it does not nearly make up for last year’s decline.
Universities and universities of applied sciences must pay for part of the inflation out of their own pockets. Other than that, there are no new cuts to higher education and research in the 2026 national budget.
“Unfortunately, people in the Netherlands seem to be increasingly at odds with each other,” said King Willem-Alexander in his Speech from the Throne. Not only on the streets or online, but also at universities and in the political arena in The Hague.
Under the new Collective Labour Agreement, university staff will be offered a 2-percent pay rise and 100-euro bonus from 1 July. Staff will also receive a one-off payment of 350 euros in October.
The minister of education should have less power, says outgoing education minister Bruins. He fears that populists will want to intervene in higher education after the elections. “Entire faculties could have been cut.”
A survey shows that expanding TU Delft to Rotterdam is garnering mixed reactions. Maaike Kleinsmann and Han Derkx of the Rotterdam Campus programme team, talk about the plans for the new Health and Techology bachelor, cooperation with the Municipality of Rotterdam, and financing.
Mirte Brouwer believes that we need to make sure that the writing support TU Delft gives doesn’t fall victim to the next round of budget cuts. This is exactly where students learn to structure their thoughts, find their story, and finish their thesis.
Some proposed austerity measures at TU Delft will disproportionately affect young academics, fears Delft Young Academy. They make a number of recommendations, such as sharing the education burden fairly.
Academic freedom is under pressure in the Netherlands, according to KNAW. The organisation warns that researchers’ autonomy is being undermined by budget cuts, intimidation and two new bills.
TU Delft students can vote for the Student Council for the next academic year on Wednesday and Thursday. There are four parties on the voting slip: ORAS, Lijst Bèta, Dé Partij and TU ResQ. What are their plans? The party candidates speak.
The Executive Board says that it does not want to use the cheese grater method to make the current cutbacks. However, in this letter, Fred Veer, Chair of the Trade Unions in the Local Consultation Body (VLO), says that he does not think this will be done.
Share proposals on reducing costs by 10% as of 2028. The Executive Board sent this question to all the faculties and departments in January. They have to submit their plans in June while they are already economising. Delta spoke to the Executive Board about this process. “Rotterdam Campus could be a lifeline.”
TU Delft staff and students are laying down work on Thursday. The hope is that the substantial cuts in higher education will be reversed. Delft is the straggler of the ‘relay strike’. During the day, Delta was liveblogging.
TU Delft students and staff members will drop their work on Thursday 24 April to protest against the proposed cutbacks to higher education. The protest is part of a nationwide relay of strikes in which different universities protest on consecutive days. TU Delft closes the series.
The cutbacks at universities will negatively affect the quality of education. Student columnist Mirte Brouwer has some suggestions for what you can do to pass the time during a so-so lecture.
Higher education institutions should no longer provide reduced-rate sports facilities, as the government believes this distorts the market. Cultural activities and canteen prices are also set to rise, among other things.
Over time, funding of higher education institutions will be reduced by 59 million euros, reads the Spring Memorandum. It’s one of the new cutbacks in education and research.
The majority in the Senate voted for the austerity plans of Eppo Bruins, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science. Marc de Vries, TU Delft Professor and SGP Senator did so too. Why did he vote against the interests of his own employer?
The planned closure of the VU Department of Earth Sciences is disastrous for geoscience research and education. That is what TU Delft professors Timo Heimovaara and Sebastian Geiger write in this solidarity statement on behalf of their Department of Geosciences and Engineering.
As expected, the majority of the Senate voted in favour of cutbacks in higher education. Universities are angry.
TU Delft will join the relay strikes on 24 April. In her first Delta column, Sofía Ghigliani highlights how the cuts in Dutch higher education have their effects beyond the national borders.
Britte Bouchaut calls on everyone to go on strike on 24 April. Now is the time to say ‘no’, she advocates, because if we do nothing, education will be further dismantled.
Halfway through the very last debate on the education budget, universities – including a delegation from TU Delft – are protesting outside the Senate. “Don’t do it!” they call out. Will the Senate still deliver a political miracle?
On Thursday 24 April, TU Delft students and staff will strike as part of the national relay of strikes against the cutbacks in higher education. The decision was taken on Thursday afternoon at a busy action meeting in Pulse held by the FNV and AOb trade unions and the VSSD students union.
Carefully worded but not very concrete – this is how universities, universities of applied sciences and students perceive Minister Eppo Bruins’ policy letter policy for secondary vocational education, higher education and scientific research. Especially the plans for a legal obligation for mutual coordination and capacity funding raise questions.
Holland PTC continues to struggle financially. The proton therapy clinic on TU Delft’s campus is therefore economising and is receiving new loans from its shareholders: TU Delft and Rotterdam’s and Leiden’s medical centres. The burning question is what will happen now.
Want to do something about workload issues in academia? Then give everyone their own research budget, says Eddie Brummelman, chair of The Young Academy.
Our new columnist Britte Bouchaut is concerned about the cutbacks that TU Delft will have to make. What will they involve? No more free coffee? In her eyes, the plans for the Rotterdam campus are inconsistent with the financial challenges that TU Delft faces.
TU Delft is currently seeking the opinions of students and staff members about a possible campus in Rotterdam through a participatory value evaluation (PVE). What is the purpose of this consultation? Delta dived into the questionnaire, the use of unique codes, and the timing of the survey.
All services and faculties of TU Delft have to cut back by 10 percent, but according to the Works Council, more is needed than this ‘cheese slicing method’. The council is asking the Executive Board for ‘vision’ and ‘courageous choices’, for example about Campus Rotterdam.
The TU Delft unions are watching the compulsory redundancies at the University of Twente with concern. Dozens of jobs are being cut in a single faculty to save EUR 6.2 million. TU Delft needs to save EUR 79 million. Will that cost hundreds of jobs? The unions feel there’s a lack of vision and want a new Executive Board to develop this first.
The Student Council is delving into the recently announced cutback measures requiring all faculties to reduce their costs by 10%. In a strongly worded response, the student representatives warn that this blanket approach to economising will jeopardise the quality of education.
More work placements, a permanent group of ‘military lecturers’ and more money for research. Defence embraces the advice to make more frequent use of knowledge within higher education institutions. This does require these institutions to improve their knowledge security.
TU Delft is facing serious cutbacks: up to EUR 79 million per year from 2028. The Executive Board does not rule out staff dismissals. Much will depend on the plans to economise by 10% that all faculties and services have to make in the next few months.
Does degree programme X really need to be offered in English? Paul Rullmann, outgoing chair of the committee in charge of deciding this question, understands the rationale for introducing a language assessment. “But not”, he says, “in the context of a set of spending cuts.”
What if you could calmly think about how research funding should be allocated, without the looming threat of budget cuts? Scientists wish for less competition, as revealed by a study conducted by The Young Academy.
The majority of the cuts in education and research can go ahead as planned, the deal on the budget for education, science and culture that was concluded Wednesday reveals. Of the 2 billion euros, a little shy of 700 million will be reversed.
“Studying is a right, not a privilege!” and “Don’t do it!” resound around campus on Wednesday afternoon. TU Delft students and staff members again demonstrated against the planned cutbacks on higher education worth billions.
Despite the cutbacks that will also affect TU Delft, the preparations for the Rotterdam Campus are going ahead. The Executive Board has approved the so-called Development Plan which will bring the TU Delft branch a step closer. One challenge now is to attract millions of euros from external investors, another is to address concerns among staff and students.
D66, CDA and JA21 say they will use their power in the Senate to halt many of the proposed government cuts in education and research. Their announcement comes as the House of Representatives gears up to debate the budget for education, science and culture.
Despite train delays and bad weather, it was crowded on the Malieveld in The Hague on Monday afternoon, 25 November. According to the organisers, 20,000 people attended the protest against the announced cutbacks on higher education. Among them were plenty from TU Delft.
In the run-up to the large demonstration on Monday against the cutbacks in higher education and research, a petition is circulating. It has been signed 56,800 times so far.
On Thursday afternoon, around 150 staff members and students came to the demonstration organised by the VSSD students union to protest against the cutbacks in higher education. There were also demonstrations in Utrecht and The Hague against the Cabinet’s policy.
The VSSD Delft students union is coming back to action after a couple of ‘sleeping’ years. The protests against the cutbacks in higher education have put the wind in the union’s sails. The students are calling on everyone at TU Delft to join the protest in Utrecht on 14 November. Delta spoke to its Secretary, Sam de Jong.
To offset some of the major budget cuts they face, higher education institutions should focus more on defence research. This is according to Jos Benschop, of the AWTI advisory council.
The Executive Board has asked deans and directors to continue to be ‘highly aware’ of their incomes and expenses. What does this mean for faculties and services? And how concerned is the Executive Board about the Cabinet’s cutbacks? A meeting with the trade unions brought some clarity about these issues.
Cutbacks or not, the workload in science must be reduced. That is what Minister Eppo Bruins writes to the House of Representatives. It’s “worrying” that after all these years, universities haven’t turned words into deeds.
The universities will already be affected by the cutbacks next year, the budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for the year 2025 shows. Most of the plans were already known, but now they’ve been concretised with the exact amounts and dates.
The government has abandoned cuts of 215 million euros to the universities’ national sector plans, news platform NOS reports. It intends to scrap starter and incentive grants instead.
About two hundred protesters came to Domplein in Utrecht on Monday morning for the ‘Alternative opening’ of the new academic year. Down with the cutbacks, was the message. Perhaps there will even be a strike.
The academic year started on Monday 2 September, as did the protests against the announced cuts in Dutch higher education. Those cuts will go ahead. That’s the message given by Education Minister Eppo Bruins in response to written questions from the House of Representatives.
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.
Education protest against budget cuts Universities and trade unions protested last Monday in The Hague against a cut of 149 million euros in secondary and higher education. This 149 million euros will be spread out over several years and will be paid for half by the universities. The money is needed for…
