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On Wednesday, December 11, the coalition parties reached an agreement with part of the opposition on the budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Based on the available figures, the conclusion is that the budget cuts in higher education and research are still huge.

According to the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL, ), more than half a billion in budget cuts remain for higher education and research. What this means for UU will be the available figures mean for UU will be investigated. The UU budget for 2025 will remain as is, and more information will follow as final figures emerge from OCW.

Science as biggest loser

“We are very happy for all students that the long-term study penalty (langstudeerboete, red.) is not going to happen,” says Anton Pijpers, President of the Executive Board. “But science seems to remain the big loser in these budget cuts. It is a ridiculous contradiction that the Schoof administration mentions the word “innovation” 85 times in the coalition program, but at the same time wants to cut half a billion from the source of innovation.”

“We continue to oppose”

“Obviously, we had hoped that our collective protest as staff and students would lead to more,” says Vice President Margot van der Starre. “I understand that there are questions about what the new agreement means for UU. We are going to calculate that after formal notification from OCW to provide more clarity. Either way, as a board, we will continue to oppose these budget cuts as we have done in recent months.”