Buses heading to protest in The Hague

At least 18.000 people are expected at the demonstration against the government budget cuts in education on Friday 21 January. Compared to other universities, Tilburg students show little enthusiasm to protest. Their teachers seem more motivated.

At many universities in the Netherlands, students and lecturers alike have organized local protests against the current government’s plans. For example, a couple of universities have held sit-ins and ‘lecture marathons’.

Several universities expect thousands of their students to travel to The Hague. So far however, less than four hundred Tilburg students have signed up for the bus ride from Tilburg University to The Hague on Friday morning. Teachers from universities all over the country are also traveling to The Hague to hold a special ‘academic meeting’. Up till now, forty Tilburg professors have signed up for this.

Student organizations SAM, Front, and TiGeAk and SOTS have opened a website where people can sign up for the bus trip to The Hague . The buses have been paid for by the Tilburg University Board, which supports the protest. According to Executive Chairman Hein van Oorschot, the planned government cuts in education in The Netherlands ‘strike at the heart of our universities’. “Tilburg University will have to try and survive under the current government”, the Executive Chairman states. Its policy plans will likely result in a loss of 20 to 28 million Euro for Tilburg university, as well as the nationwide disappearance of jobs of 2500 professors and lecturers. “In the upcoming spring memorandum, the university will announce how the expenses will be shared.”  [TvN]

You can sign up for the bus trip here

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