The four Technical Universities in Netherlands expressed their petition for additional money to sustain their education through an open letter addressed to the responsible ministers, according to a report from NOS.
The letter was addressed to Ministers Jet Bussemaker of Education and Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs, as well as State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs.
The demand for additional funds is for these universities to be able to cope with the influx of students, because there are times when there are not enough lecture halls for the classes and the number of laboratories cannot accommodate all the students, though this was not the case a few years back.
"Government and industry, employers and employees, boards of directors and students joined forces with the aim to get 40 percent of students to choose a technical study." the letter reads. That was a success - the number of students at TU's increased from 32 thousand to 53 thousand in a decade.
However, according to the letter there was a disadvantage that entailed that success. "Cinemas serve as lecture halls, practicals are scrapped and small work groups turned into major lectures. Students often have to wait days for time in a laboratory, are forced to work in pairs and some practicals are now even done with software instead of actual equipment. "
At this point, these technological universities are left with only two options, they could either limit the number of students they accept, or the quality of the education will be compromised. Bussemaker stated that there is no problem with limiting the number of students, but VVD and CDA said it is unacceptable.
The TU's are now calling the attention of the ministers to take responsibility and challenges them to uphold their promise during election which is to give value to innovation and technology education.
