A lamentation
[Column]
When Victor van der Chijs (University of Twente) passed on the 4TU chairperson’s gavel to his successor Louise Fresco (University of Wageningen), he sounded the alarm in Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) newspaper. That was to be expected – universities of technology (TU) are good at doing that.
There are always too few students. Or too many, like two years ago. Or rather, there was not enough money to accommodate the hordes of aspiring engineers who came knocking on their door. Numeri fixi were introduced to square that circle, which inevitably caused an uproar because there weren’t enough technicians.
It’s true, more young people are going down the technical route, said Van der Chijs in the FD, but even then the TUs are unable to meet market demand. And who is to blame for that? The Cabinet. Apparently, they're still not doing enough to train more scientists.
But hadn’t the Cabinet promised more money for technology in the coalition agreement? Didn’t the Van Rijn Committee recommend transferring money from general universities to TUs? And hadn’t the Cabinet and the House of Representatives adopted that advice? Yes. But that goes nowhere near far enough.
If you look at the figures, you will see that between 2013 and 2018 the number of students at all universities increased by 17%. That’s 14% if you exclude the TUs. Because the number of students at TUs increased by no less than 31%. There is more money, there are more students, and yet there is still cause to complain.
If only a fraction of the woes that have been predicted over the past few decades had materialised, the Netherlands would no longer exist. Which industry is now suffering from a lack of engineers? Which companies have gone bankrupt? Or left the country? Where are engineers’ salaries rocketing?
And while we’re at it, can someone explain to me why TUs need to keep running 70 Bachelor’s programmes and 159 Master’s programmes with 454 specialisations? Is that all for the benefit of that “market” or is it because nobody wants to shut up shop?
Putting quality above quantity can lead to growth. Fewer degree programmes means more money for those that remain. World-class programmes that also attract more international students. Because apparently they don’t know we exist either.
From now on, every time someone sounds the alarm about a lack of money, students or whatever else, I want to hear a concrete example of what will happen if that money and those students never turn up. And then let’s also hear what the TUs are going to do to get their own house in order.
