Funding streams and prioritisation in Dutch university research

On the 1st of May the Rathenau Instituut published a report called Spinning Plates – Funding streams and prioritization in Dutch University research. According to authors Dr. Elizabeth Koier and Prof. dr. Barend van der Meulen “the report offers a detailed analysis of how university research is financed in the Netherlands.” The report was originally published in Dutch and only now came available in English.

According to the report a much larger proportion of Dutch university budgets consist of competitive project funding than the official figures show. Because funding bodies such as the European Union and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific research only cover a portion of the total costs of a research project, the rest has to be covered by ‘matching’ funds coming from the university. Money received through the first funding stream (government funding) is used to cover this last part while in reality it is meant to pay for teaching, research and the general university infrastructure.

Read the entire report here.

Geen reacties