02 - Netherlands - Ongoing debates and future developments
Strategic agenda for higher education, research and science
The strategic agenda for higher education, research and science policy was published in November
2007. It was drawn up after close consultations with HBO institutions, universities, research institutes
and students. The plan envisages an ambitious learning culture and an excellent research climate,
which will create better education for students and researchers. Reducing drop-out among students in
higher education is an integral part of an ambitious learning culture. A new funding model for higher
education will enhance quality and diversity in the courses on offer. The government also wishes to
bring the training of researchers more into line with the American model (graduate schools).
Higher Education Funding Bill
The coalition agreement of 2007 states that after consultations with the education sector, a new
integrated bill will be introduced in the near future on funding and management of higher education and
research. The bill will devote attention particularly to improving the quality and position of vulnerable
courses. It will also include uniform, simple and enforceable funding rules that prevent inappropriate
forms of funding and do justice to the position of students. The strategic agenda elaborates on this
intention. The bill’s content is based on dialogue with, and suggestions from, education institutions and
students. The aims are as follows:
Funding will be based on quality, teaching input and performance.
A high-quality, broad educational provision, independent of cyclical or temporary developments,
will be guaranteed.
There will be incentives for delivering quality.
Institutions will be encouraged to operate using a small-scale approach.
Students will have more say in the programme of study and will be able to obtain redress if a
course proves unsatisfactory.
Admissions policy
In December 2007 the Minister of Education, Culture and Science received the final report of the
special committee which assessed proposals submitted by universities and HBO institutions for
experimentation with student selection, variable tuition fees, flexible admissions and honours
programmes. The committee then monitored the experiments and, following interim reports in 2005
and 2006, it presented its final report in December 2007, containing findings and recommendations on
how to improve quality and success rates.
Associate degree programmes
A pilot scheme for associate degree programmes was launched in order to address the shortage on
the Dutch labour market of people educated to between MBO level 4 and bachelor’s degree standard.
The first pilot phase ran for the 2006/2007 academic year and the second in 2007/2008. A total of 57
pilot programmes were approved by the Minister of Education and are primarily intended for MBO
certificate holders who want to pursue further study and working people who want to go back to higher
education. One of the major objectives of the pilot programmes is to find out whether such
programmes can increase take-up of higher education. These programmes:
are integrated in bachelor’s degree programmes;
comprise 120 ECTS credits;
lead to an independent labour market qualification in the form of an Associate Degree (AD),
which is provided for in section 7 of the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW);
automatically entitle Associate Degree holders to complete their bachelor’s degree with the
remaining 120 credits at an institution of higher professional education (‘hogeschool’), directly or
at a later date. Students attending an AD programme are also eligible for student finance,
provided they meet the standard criteria.
Opening up the system
Plans are under way to allow privately-funded institutions to fund training courses temporarily from
government grants. Small-scale experiments involving an open system were conducted in the
2007/2008 academic year and will continue to the end of 2009/2010.
Accreditation
The strategic agenda for higher education, research and science policy formulates new principles for
the next accreditation phase (i.e. from 2009). More effective supervision will give professionals greater
scope for learning and will simultaneously reduce the administrative burden. This proposal is
elaborated in greater detail in a policy memorandum on a new accreditation system in Dutch higher
education. The new approach revolves around the ‘institutional audit’ which is a thorough review of the
higher education institution. If the audit shows that internal quality assurance is such that the quality of
education is continuously being improved, the institution will be promoted to a different accreditation
regime, based on ‘earned trust’. Pilot projects will be started in the short term to establish how this new
approach works in practice. A bill on this subject is expected to be introduced in the autumn of 2008.
The new-style accreditation system is scheduled to be in place by January 2010, once all courses in
the Netherlands have been accredited at least once.
Eurydice - the information network on education in Europe
Date: 2009
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