Layoffs begin at Dutch universities as deep budget cuts bite

Multiple Dutch universities have announced reorganisations that are likely to involve layoffs, in the wake of drastic government budget cuts that will amount to about €500 million (£414 million) a year across higher education and research.

The University of Twente, University College Roosevelt, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Open University of the Netherlands are among the institutions to warn of possible redundancies as the Dutch sector reels from financial restrictions, ministry plans to limit international student intake and an anticipated decline in domestic enrolments.

At the University of Twente, 63 employees of the Faculty of Science and Technology will be “directly affected” by the planned reorganisation, spokesperson Laurens van der Velde told Times Higher Education, with 47 of these warned that they face dismissal. Scientists researching cancer and Parkinson’s disease are believed to be among those facing redundancy.

About 65 full-time employees are likely to be laid off at the Open University, while approximately 20 people are at risk of redundancy at University College Roosevelt. At VU Amsterdam, said Ahmed Charifi, the education union AOb’s district manager of scientific education and research, “the exact impact on layoffs and which faculties are affected are still in discussion”, but cutbacks are expected to amount to about €59 million.

“The impact is big: whole research groups and studies are being ended,” Charifi told THE. Most Dutch institutions that have yet to announce reorganisations, he said, are “already preparing for the scenario of layoffs”, with faculties expecting cuts “varying between 5 and 15 per cent of total university budgets”.

Ruben Puylaert, spokesperson for the umbrella body Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), told THE that the layoffs were “direct consequences” of the latest government budget. Alongside job losses, he noted, “study programmes are in danger of being discontinued and important research is being halted”.

“Universities risk being caught in a perfect storm,” Puylaert said. He described education minister Eppo Bruins’ planned “Internationalisation in Balance” bill, which will limit English-language teaching and international recruitment, as “highly restrictive”, adding: “Combined with the expected decrease in Dutch student enrolment, universities are facing not only severe budgetary challenges but also a significant drop in student numbers.”

“Higher education has been facing structural underfunding for at least the past decade,” said van der Velde, noting that the University of Twente had already implemented cost-cutting measures including hiring restrictions and limits on travel expenses.

“We are currently in an uncertain situation, not knowing what more will come at us.”

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com