Press releases and news

On 26 July, following a positive backbench consultation, Universities of the Netherlands and the employees’ organisations FNV, FBZ, CNV Overheid and AOb converted the cla negotiating settlement which was concluded on 28 June into a definitive agreement. The collective labour agreement (CAO-NU) is in effect from 01 April 2023 through 30 June 2024.

Dutch universities will take a more critical stance towards global university rankings. These ‘league tables’ have methodological shortcomings and their assessment of the research achievements of universities is too one-sided, being based on the number of publications and citations. This is at odds with the Recognition & Rewards programme, through which Dutch universities emphasise quality rather than quantity. So concludes an expert group advising the Board of the Universities of the Netherlands.

On 28 June, negotiators representing the employers’ organisation Universities of the Netherlands and the employees’ organisation reached a negotiation settlement on the 2023 Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU). The parties in the collective agreement agreed to a 9.0% salary increase from 1 August, in addition to a one-off gross payment of up to €1200. The universities also agreed that the number of lecturers with a temporary contract (expressed as a percentage of the total academic teaching staff) must be reduced from 15.0% to 13.5% in three years’ time. This will result in approximately 300 new permanent positions.

Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, has today submitted the Letter to Parliament on Internationalisation in Higher Education to the House of Representatives. In this letter he sets out a number of actions that are designed to enable more effective regulation of the intake of international students. The Minister will set to work immediately on a bill that will give universities legal powers to control the intake of international students more effectively at degree programme level from academic year 2025-2026 onwards.

During the Recognition & Rewards Festival on Thursday, 13 April, more than 250 participants actively engaged with each other on the different elements of the Recognition & Rewards programme. Robbert Dijkgraaf, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, also participated in a workshop and engaged in a dialogue with scientists. During the festival, he was also handed the recently published road map 'Room for everyone's talent in practice' by the national Recognition & Rewards steering group. 

Dutch knowledge institutions and research funders are taking a new step forward in the Recognition & Rewards programme. This will involve the publication of a road map of concrete plans for the immediate future, including new career and development paths for academics.

Horizon Europe is one of the world’s largest international funding programme for science and innovation. Nonetheless, the Dutch universities, the university medical centres and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) have found that the Horizon programme could still be better equipped to make a real difference with regard to the great challenges we face.

Today, Universities of The Netherlands (UNL) is presenting transparent principles for the transfer of intellectual property to (university) spin-offs. These deal terms, as they are called, regulate how to deal with intellectual property and universities’ share ownership in spin-offs that involve a researcher terminating their employment.

UNLimited is the leading meeting of 2023 for everyone who works in, with and for universities.