Organisation - March 24, 2011

'Grants are cheaper'

There is quite a commotion on the subject of grants. PhD researchers have been protesting against Dutch government plans to offer them grants rather than salaries.

This brought them into a head-on collision with universities' representative Sijbolt Noorda, who claims that the legal change proposed is only intended to protect foreign PhD students. Noorda 'is lying', say the researchers. This bold claim appeared to be born out when Secretary of State Zijlstra coolly announced in parliament that a grant system would be 'cheaper than salaried PhD researchers'. Zijlstra does think it should be left up to the universities themselves. Wageningen has spoken out against the grant system.