General

'Soft landing' Van Rijn advice is disappointing

In the coming years, the cabinet will allocate 41 million extra for beta-technical courses in MBO and higher education. The effect of the redistribution of the higher education budget by the Van Rijn committee is only partly mitigated.

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In the yesterday published spring note In 2019, the government will structurally make an extra 41 million euros available per year 'to invest in training and teacher capacities for science and technical education in MBO and higher education'.

Redistribution

Two weeks ago the advice appeared of the Van Rijn Committee on the redistribution of the higher education budget. Universities with a relatively high number of STEM programs and with many students transferring from other institutions ('external switchers') receive a larger share of the financial cake in the advice, at the expense of the other institutions.

With an unchanged budget, a net amount of 2019 million euros would be shifted between the universities in 70. The four universities of technology benefit from this, while the three young universities (Maastricht, Tilburg and Rotterdam) and the Open University hand in millions every year.

According to Van Rijn, no extra money is needed in higher professional education for the beta-technical courses, but only for universities of applied sciences with a relatively large number of external switchers. In total, 2019 million euros will be redistributed in 21,4. Inholland and The Hague University of Applied Sciences benefit the most, while universities of applied sciences on the outskirts of the Netherlands, such as Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Saxion, and Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, each invest 3 to 4 million euros.

Financial blow

The Van Rijn committee was confident that the institutions that had to hand in their budgets have sufficient reserves to absorb the financial blow. At the presentation of the advisory report, Minister Van Engelshoven said he was “hopeful” that extra money would be made available in the spring memorandum for a 'soft landing' for the report.

The Van Rijn Committee trusted that the institutions that had to surrender budget have sufficient reserves to absorb the financial blow

That extra money is now available, but the question is whether it is enough. The 41 million euros will not only go to higher education, but also to MBO - which part of the amount is not included. Universities with hardly any beta-technical programs, such as Maastricht University, get little out of it.

The redistribution of Van Rijn in higher professional education is only based on the number of external switchers. The extra investments from the spring memorandum in beta-technical programs are undoubtedly welcome at universities of applied sciences. But who does not offer them is of no use.

AObchairman Liesbeth Verheggen called the spring memorandum for education "deeply disappointing". Read her response in this news item.

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