NETHERLANDS: Call to invest in knowledge economy

Higher education stakeholders want their sector to be internationally competitive to tackle the economic crisis and play a leading role in realising a competitive knowledge-based economy, a central goal of the European Union's 20-20 strategy.

Last year parliament adopted a motion calling on the government to make the country among the top five knowledge economies worldwide. But during the recent campaign for parliamentary elections, a study ordered by the government and conducted by the Veerman commission concluded the present system was inadequate to achieve competitive success at an international level.

To make the Dutch higher education system more efficient investment must be increased, not cut, and the quality of universities and vocational schools must improve, said the commission.

In June VSNU, the universities' umbrella organisation, reacted by demanding increased higher education funding of EUR1.5 billion (US$1.9 billion), claiming this was necessary if the country was to attain a place among the world's leading knowledge economies.

The argument by the Veerman commission and VSNU in defence of substantial budget increases was based on the fact that student numbers were rising while funds were not. Facilities and teaching staff cannot keep up with the growth in student numbers and the quality of education delivered by the institutions is falling.

According to RM Smit, President of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Dutch government "doesn't invest enough. We invest less than other European countries but also less than some Asian countries and the US".

The Veerman report proposed major reforms, such as abolishing the difference between vocational schools and universities by allowing vocational schools to organise masters courses and giving institutions the right to 'select at the gate' and deny access to students before programmes started.

Institutions needed to profile themselves by specialising in certain academic fields and should integrate academic and applied research by offering general bachelor programmes, following the example of university colleges.

The commission also recommended lifelong learning, claiming every citizen should have the right to take a bachelors or masters degree partially funded by the state.

In VSNU's submission, Frans Zwarts, Rector Magnificus of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, held the government accountable. "These reforms will require a big effort from the universities. We are prepared to do this, now it's time for the politicians to make their effort," Zwarts said.

But not everybody in the academic world is enthusiastic. Dr Grahame Lock, a philosophy professor at Oxford, Leiden and Nijmegen universities, is sceptical.

"The concepts being used mean something else in the report than they do in the academic world. Selection at the gate is being applauded because good students are being supported. The report, however, aims to produce efficient labour market forces at low costs.

"Selection means choosing the students who can quickly absorb course material successfully without taking up unnecessary and costly courses out of intellectual curiosity," said Lock.

* Frank Vanaerschot is a correspondent with ESNA, the Berlin-based European Higher Education News Agency.