Protest against higher education cuts: ‘This government is turning its back on the world’
Over 20,000 students, lecturers, administrators, support staff and many others protested on 25 November against the plans to make billions of cuts to higher education. Students and staff from Leiden University also travelled to The Hague to voice their objections to the disastrous plans.
The world is crying out for well-educated people who can address the most pressing issues of our time. And yet the government is going to make over a billion in cuts to higher education and research. The plans are therefore causing quite some consternation among students and staff.
The policy will jeopardise the quality of our research and teaching. Leiden’s Executive Board and deans supported the protest, calling on students and staff to go to The Hague to make their voices heard. And that is exactly what they did: it was standing room only on the trains between Leiden and The Hague. Students and staff from Campus The Hague were also out in force at Malieveld.
-
Flags, protest signs and crowds at Malieveld -
Students and staff from Leiden University were out in force -
The protesters marched from Malieveld to the House of Representatives -
Over 20,000 people at Malieveld -
What else at an education protest but a blackboard? -
Protest flags at various university buildings
Late graduation penalty will cause debt
Despite the packed train to The Hague, Caitlin van der Ende (on the Master’s in Biomedical Sciences) is pleased with the turnout. She is glad to see so many demonstrators undeterred by the bad weather. ‘Critical thinking is an important part of education. It’s awful to think we will have less access to this if the cuts go ahead.’
She is demonstrating not only against the cuts but also against the late graduation penalty. ‘I feel they think students take longer to study because they are not motivated and don’t want to do their best, which is not true at all. All sorts of things can happen that mean you need more time to complete your studies. The penalty will pile the pressure on students because they could end up in debt. And students are not made of money as it is. It’s terrible.’
‘Turning your back on the rest of the world is short-sighted’
Japanologist Ivo Smits is also protesting at Malieveld. ‘My sign says “No to the cuts” in Japanese. This government is turning its back on the world and scrimping on innovation. The Netherlands is a small country with a lot of world around it and turning our backs on that is very short-sighted. We will see the effects across the board. In the short term, it will be disastrous for healthcare, for instance. We won’t train as many doctors. And where will we get our doctors from if we can no longer recruit them abroad? And lawyers or humanities researchers are essential too. People who study other cultures and help us understand the world are exactly what we need. What makes the cuts so insidious is that the effects will be long-term ones and will hit us hard in ten years’ time.’
The Executive Board also demonstrated against the cuts
Due to the selected cookie settings, we cannot show this video here.
Watch the video on the original website or
First time at Malieveld
Erik Weber, a communication adviser at Leiden University Libraries, has come to The Hague with Jozien van Akker (a communication officer at the ISSC). This is Weber’s first time ever at Malieveld. ‘It is important that someone thinks about how things could be done differently. We are showing the Netherlands that we are here and actively contribute to society.’ Van Akker is also animated. ‘Education needs enough money to train young people as researchers. All of society benefits from that. We cannot exist without education.’
Annetje Ottow on Radio1
‘You will hear us loud and clear tomorrow’, said President of the Executive Board, Annetje Ottow, on the Radio1 programma Met het oog op morgen. She had been invited a day before the demonstration in The Hague to discuss the announced cuts to higher education. ‘We will be standing side by side with the unions, with all lecturers, students, university leaders and more, with municipalities and mayors, so I think our message will be loud and clear.’
Sign the petition
You can also make your voice heard by signing the petition, which is part of the campaign against the cuts.