UM Executive Board sympathetic towards WOinActie campaign
WOinActie (‘Higher Education in Action’) has called on staff and students from Dutch universities to join a national action day in The Hague on Friday, 14 December. The UM Executive Board supports the campaign as well as any potential involvement by its employees and students in efforts to maintain the quality of education and research at Dutch universities.
For this reason, it will give any staff and students who wish to join the demonstrations in The Hague the opportunity to do so. However, the Executive Board stresses that any employees and students who would like to have a regular working day at UM should not encounter any obstacles.
The UM Executive Board has been working for some time on a number of issues raised by WOinActie, including work pressure and the funding of higher education. When it comes to workloads, a recent sustainability monitor will provide us with important insights. Based on its findings, the Taskforce Werkdruk (‘Work Pressure’), set up last year, will make proposals for the further practical implementation of measures. On the issue of the funding of higher education, a 'bottleneck analysis' has been drawn up within the VSNU framework, which we are currently discussing with the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven. In addition, UM is actively seeking support for its position from various political stakeholders in order to contribute to the national debate on funding for higher education.