Saxion joins other applied universities in calling for a different funding model for applied university education
Fewer students means less income. This is how the current funding of higher vocational education (HBO) is organised. Eighty percent of funding is determined by the number of students at an applied university. A structural solution for financing higher vocational education has to be found to continue creating broad prosperity everywhere in the Netherlands. This is the key recommendation of ‘Universities of Applied Sciences as an engine for broad prosperity in all Dutch regions’ from the Netherlands Association of Applied Universities (Vereniging Hogescholen). The report has been handed to outgoing Education Minister Dijkgraaf and the parliamentary party leaders and education spokespeople in the higher and lower houses of parliament. Today a meeting is being held to discuss the matter in the lower house.
Another funding model is essential, as the current one is based on student numbers and is therefore susceptible to population decline. This puts pressure on the provision of higher vocational education in regions and in doing so on the general prosperity of those regions. In time, almost all applied universities will have to deal with this, at the moment this is already happening at applied universities in border regions. This is despite the fact that, according to the report published last year ‘Every region counts!’, knowledge institutions give “a huge boost to regional ecosystems, connections to the labour market and the future perspectives of residents”.
Disparities in general prosperity currently too large
Decreasing availability of education and research in regions would be disastrous, as it would undermine the vitality and economic development of those regions. ‘Every Region Counts!’ emphasises the importance of regions and the inequality in regional broad prosperity that has been created by current policies. The disparities in general prosperity between regions have become too large leading to unequal opportunities for citizens. This is why applied universities want a fixed base in funding comparable to that of universities, so that funding will become more stable. Moreover, there is no logical explanation for the current differences in the fixed base between higher vocational education and academic universities. Applied universities also want applied research to be better funded and the regional role of higher vocational education to be included in law.
Read about the other structural solutions offered by the universities of applied sciences in the attached pamphlet ‘Universities of Applied Sciences as an engine for broad prosperity in all Dutch regions ’ (in Dutch).
Initiators : nine applied universities and the Netherlands Association of Applied Universities
In collaboration with the Association of Applied Universities, the nine initiators of ‘Universities of Applied Sciences as an engine for broad prosperity in all Dutch regions’ are: Hanze (Groningen), NHL Stenden (Friesland and Drenthe), HZ (Zeeland), Zuyd (Limburg), HAN (Gelderland), HAS green academy (North Brabant and Limburg), BUas (North Brabant), Van Hall Larenstein (Friesland, Gelderland) and Saxion (Overijssel and Gelderland).