Grant PhD’s not as popular as expected

A trial with grant PhD students, PhD’s who are not on the payroll but receive a grant, has been the subject of quite some controversy. For a while, Tilburg University also flirted with the idea, but the only two universities that participate in the trial are the University of Groningen and Erasmus University Rotterdam.Next academic year, the Ministry of Education allows Groningen to recruit 850 grant PhD’s, and Rotterdam 15. The two universities are the only institutions that decided to participate in the trial with this concept. When the Ministry first proposed this, the Council of State ruled that this form of PhD Education is undesirable. Minister Bussemaker decided to do a small experiment with it, instead of implementing it right away.

Here at Tilburg University, TISEM was interested in the grant PhD student. The University council, however, was critical. Especially the ABVAKABO faction was a fierce opponent: “Every proposal from the Executive Board will be countered by a counter proposition from our faction. Our faction won’t surrender on this.”

The main criticism on the system is that grant PhD’s lose rights like a salary, pension, maternity leave and other social securities. Proponents say that there will be more PhD students, since it is cheaper for universities, and that is good for our knowledge economy.

_Advertentie.