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Extra teaching cash no help for TUs

The four technical universities in the Netherlands are unable to take on additional teachers to cope with the growth in student numbers. They get more teaching funding but less funding from the government for research, according to an analysis by the 4TU Federation.
Albert Sikkema

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Like Wageningen University, the technical universities of Delft, Eindhoven and Twente are also having to cope with growing student numbers. The number of students registered at the four TUs rose from 33,000 in 2005 to 57,000 in 2017, according to figures from the 4TU Federation.

That growth caused income from tuition fees to increase from 70 to 130 million euros over the past ten years. Direct government funding for teaching also increased from about 330 million in 2006 to 370 million in 2015. But that extra cash could not be invested in new teachers as the direct government funding for research fell over the same ten-year period from 650 to 540 million.

The analysis shows clearly why the technical universities were unable to hire new teachers despite the additional funding for education that they get from The Hague following the abolition of the basic student grant.

Cuts in research led to a fall in the direct government funding per student at the technical universities. In 2006 they received an average of 32,000 euros per student, in 2015 only 21,000 euros. The number of students per teacher — the student-staff ratio — has therefore increased at the TUs.

The 4TU Federation, which represents the interests of the technical universities, thinks the ministry of Education should change the funding model. The technical universities should be given more money per students, concludes the federation.

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