Financing part-time study in danger

Funding for part-time studies might soon come to an end. The State Secretary Halbe Zijlstra will stop direct funding of programs and instead give student scholarships. He emphasizes that not a budget cut, but a ‘flexibility’.

Only students who do a course with a “particular social and economic interest” are entitled for a scholarship. In this way, Zijlstra education fund is based on the demand in the labor market.

This measure is to bring part-time study back to life. In ten years time the number of part-time students decreased almost by half. The government expects that the number of part-time programs will increase, because the supply will be focused on the labor market. Also, courses are encouraged to provide the best education, as the students themselves can choose the institution.

According to Zijlstra, there are no plans to implement this form of funding in full-time education: “This operation is already complex enough, we should not try to do more than that.”