Millions from ministry for more ‘space and security’ (i.e. permanent jobs)

Dutch universities will be getting an extra 200 million euros a year, education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf announced recently. Most of this is earmarked for funding more permanent posts for lecturers and researchers. At WUR, it means the equivalent of about 75 additional permanent full-time positions.

Dijkgraaf has allocated the funding on the basis of four so-called sector plans, in which the universities and research universities are to act – in close cooperation – on their ‘wish to strengthen the foundations of scientific education and research’, in the words of the assignment. WUR is involved in two of those plans: Technology and Science. Through the Technology sector plan,

5.5 million will go to WUR. Most of that money is for new Wageningen jobs in the disciplines of Agrotechnology & Food Sciences (14 posts) and in the design-oriented engineering sciences (12 posts). These include jobs in the further development of artificial intelligence for agriculture, and jobs working on overhauling Dutch water management.

Through the Sciences Sector Plan, over 8 million euros will come to Wageningen, mainly to strengthen the disciplines of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Biology. Biology will gain just under 30 permanent jobs and Earth and Environmental Sciences 21.5 FTEs. The thematic emphasis will range from climate change, ecosystem services and health

& environment to ‘adaptation to a rapidly changing world’ or ‘transition to sustainable landscapes’.

The extra budget has not come out of the blue. Dijkgraaf announced the funding through the sector plans last June; Resource noted mixed responses to it at the time. According to Dijkgraaf, the extra millions could do much to give university staff more ‘space and security’. He says in his parliamentary memo that ‘staff should be systematically involved in the implementation of the plans,’ and that ‘universities should facilitate their input and that of the staff-student councils.’ me