Student - January 18, 2012
Cap on recruitment for 'useless' degree programmes
The Dutch government should discourage young people from choosing ‘useless’ higher education courses, say the chairs of the new ‘top teams’ involving companies, universities and governments. Technical programmes should be prioritized, say the team chairs.
'We cannot afford to assume in education that all programmes contribute equally to the labour market and prosperity', write the team chairs. Measures they have in mind go beyond selecting students for courses and differentiation in tuition fees: they also suggest a recruitment embargo for 'programmes leading to limited employment prospects'. They do not name examples, but in earlier discussions degree subjects such as philosophy, cultural anthropology and leisure studies have been mentioned.
In his response, minister Verhagen keeps his cards close to his chest, but he does write that more young people need to be encouraged to pursue technical education, 'for example by offering job guarantees to young people who commit themselves to these sectors.'