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10 January 2025
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20 April 2023

Government investigates potential risk posed by Chinese PhD candidates

Chinese PhD candidates attending Dutch universities on a scholarship sometimes pass on sensitive information to China, according to various media reports. After months of delay, Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf announced he is launching an investigation. Replying to written questions from…
13 April 2023

Government wants more permanent contracts: will lecturers benefit?

Fewer flexible contracts, more security for staff… This week, the government put forward a plan to reform the labour market. What will that mean for higher education? After lengthy discussions with trade unions and employers, the government has sent the…
2 March 2023

Education minister can only tackle bad employership indirectly

It is ‘embarrassing’ that some researchers and teaching staff have had to string together temporary contracts over a period of twelve years, in the view of Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf. But he is not their employer and can only do…
23 February 2023

Politicians fear return of grant will attract more foreign students

The reinstatement of the basic student grant has met with a positive reception from all sides of the House of Representatives. But some parties have expressed concern: will this overhaul of student financing end up attracting even more international students…
9 February 2023

‘Without collaboration with businesses, you miss out on many opportunities’

To get funding, researchers have to collaborate a lot: with one another, with companies and also internationally. During a Dutch Research Council (NWO) meeting it became evident that this can lead to all sorts of problems, but still: “There’s enough…
9 February 2023

House wants Dutch as language of instruction for undergraduate courses

Should Dutch be the language of instruction in all Bachelor’s degree programmes? The House of Representatives voted on a series of motions designed to curb the internationalisation of higher education.
2 February 2023

‘Minister hampers refugees’ right to education’

Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf makes refugee students pay many thousands of euros more in tuition fees than Dutch students. He is hampering their right to education, according to a national support centre for people without documents.
23 January 2023

Petition: universities must end ties with fossil fuel sector

In a week of climate protests, activists from Fossielvrij NL posted an online petition last Wednesday. They claim that the motives of companies in the fossil fuel sector run counter to the values of the academic community.  According to the…
19 January 2023

Universities create their own bubble on Mastodon

Users of social media are increasingly regarding Mastodon as an alternative to Twitter. And from March, the higher education institutions will experiment with it. They would like to become less dependent on Twitter.
19 January 2023

UvA has police clear occupied building within a day

The occupation of the University of Amsterdam is over. The ME (Police Support Unit) cleared the building yesterday evening and arrested 30 people. Earlier in the day, the Executive Board had asked the demonstrators to leave voluntarily.
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