Trust in science has not yet recovered. That is the impression that rice from fourteen party programs for the upcoming elections. Distrust mainly lives on the flanks, but also rises in the heart of the room.
For example, criticism focuses on ‘violent’ (PVV) and ‘intimidating’ (SGP) student protests, or on science in general, which ‘is being sung further and further from practice’ (BBB).
The abolition of research financier NWO (an older wish of FVD) seems to be an excess, but other parties argue with as much ease for the establishment of a new fund that “the established consensus is critically questioning within fields” (NSC), or one where companies have “no control” about the outcome of the research (SP).
According to some parties, dealing with world politics cannot be left to universities. Ethical committees are ‘not equipped’ (SGP) to judge collaborations with foreign universities. Or: some cooperation with Israeli universities must be terminated (PvdD). What does almost everyone agree? Maintain fewer international students and Dutch as the official language at the universities, just like in the previous elections in 2023. An overview.
PVV: Dutch in schoolyard
The PVV concentrates in schools and keeps it brief about science. However, the National Populists believe that Bachelor training courses should become Dutch, there should be fewer foreign students and that in the event of ‘violent demonstrations’ the damage must be recovered from ‘the rioters’. Dutch is spoken at schools ‘and at the schoolyard’, the Week of the Spring Jitters is being abolished. “No climate or woke indoctrination at school.” As usual: Islamic education must be prohibited.
GL-PVDA: A Bachelor Frisian
The left-wing merger party-in-the-making wants to invest ‘after years of demolition policy’ in research and innovation. GroenLinks-PvdA notes-without discussing concrete cases-that academic freedom is under pressure and therefore wants to anchor it legally. Universities should get more certainty and stability in their financing, participation councils in education get more army. The party promises a university bachelor study Fries.
VVD: Bonus for fast students
Higher education must better match the labor market, according to the liberals. That means: making better cooperation between colleges and universities and making part of their financing dependent on “the job prospects of graduates”. Students who graduate in time (four years of college, three years of university) and then start working, receive a “short study bonus”. The arrival of foreign students and scientists must be limited to fields where there is a shortage of workforce.
NSC: contrast
The party founded by Pieter Omtzigt advocates a new independent research fund that “supports curious and contradictory research and critically questions established consensus within fields.” Research should pay more attention to ‘Dutch policy issues’. Reducing study migration is a key point. The party wants screening of chairs that are paid with foreign money.
D66: Run back cuts
The ‘Education Party’ speaks out for the reversal of previous cuts at universities and science and wants to invest even more. University employees receive a permanent appointment faster, secondary education teachers receive trade fairs to be able to promote and it becomes easier to work with an Erasmus fair at foreign universities. Without mentioning it explicitly, D66 also sees opportunities in the political pressure on science in the US to bring ‘international top talent’ to the Netherlands.
BBB: no extra money, cut back
The representative of the agricultural sector chooses “a sober, practical approach.” In this way animal testing remains ‘necessary’, to prevent ‘human suffering’. The party believes that science is constantly “sung from practice” and argues for applied research. The costs of institutions may not increase ‘unlimited’, increase must be paid from savings. Language in higher education must remain Dutch. The “anti -Semitic and other hate -bearing demonstrations and destruction” must be taken at universities.
CDA: Students’ rooms
“Student cities are communities,” writes the connecting CDA. To make that happen, the Christian Democrats want to make it easier to rent out a room in their own home to students. Foreign propaedeutic students (Bachelors) must now follow a mandatory Dutch course. The financing of higher education must also be revised, the CDA is also: less based on student numbers. Investments in the “worldwide recognized scientific position around agriculture and nature” remain intact. Naturally, it is not allowed to pay for Article 23 of the Constitution, which records the equal rights of special education.
SP: Delete tuition fees
The Socialist Party increases the basic grant for every student, first scraps the tuition fee at MBO, later also at the university and university and sets the interest on student loans “permanently at zero percent”. Every training must be followed in Dutch. In addition, the party also invests ‘strong’ in research, but then through a new fund to be established ‘in which companies have no control over the implementation or outcome of the research’.
PvdD: 25 times ‘science’
The Party for the Animals is – as the only one – explicitly against collaborations with Israeli universities, as long as they “contribute to the occupation, military technology or apartheid”. (Bij1 and DENK have not yet published an election program.) The party also wants to limit the influence of companies on scientific research. Research serves the public interest and not that ‘of the capital’. ‘Science’ returns strikingly often in the program, the word falls twenty -five times, especially to substantiate plans for animal welfare and climate. Research with animals is prohibited as quickly as possible.
FvD: Dutch culture
The radical-right party under new leadership wants universities to “focus primarily on Dutch students and culture”. Diversity officials at universities must be prohibited. As in the previous program, the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) must be abolished and the government must pay directly. The party makes no statements about the third money flow – companies and organizations. FVD also wants stricter admission requirements to universities and fewer international students.
SGP: against ethical committees
The political Reformed people want to ‘strengthen’ Dutch in higher education, certainly in the Bachelor’s programs. Including “stricter standards” for control of Dutch by foreign students and teachers. The party turns, without calling Israel, against testing partnerships by ethical committees at the universities. They are ‘not equipped’ for this and are ‘not the appropriate authorities to assess foreign conflicts’. That must remain a task for the government. Damage during demonstrations is recovered from ‘the perpetrators’.
CU: Taskforce against anti -Semitism
The ChristenUnie supports the task force that the cabinet has set up to combat anti -Semitism in higher education. The safety of Jewish students and teachers must be protected in order to prevent – without figures – to decide to study ‘more and more’ Jewish youth abroad. The Christian-Social Party underlines the importance of theology and small studies. “Targeted support” must ensure that certain disciplines in the humanities are preserved.
Volt: Digital learning environment
Just like D66 and JA21, the Pan-European liberals are reducing the recent cuts on education. The party also argues for a digital Source Learning environment with student schedules, study material and assignments. Public software should make universities independent of ‘commercial platforms or software companies’ and meet ‘high standards in the field of privacy, transparency and digital autonomy’.
JA21: Delete cutbacks
Ja21, arising as a spin -off of the FVD, wants to ‘put it at the center’ in higher education and the number of foreign students. The party wants to ‘undo’ the 500 million cutbacks of the Schoof cabinet in scientific education. Money for higher education must be granted less on the basis of the number of students and more on the basis of ‘quality and social impact’.