The cutbacks aren’t his idea, the new education minister repeatedly emphasised last Monday. What’s more, he finds them ‘ugly’ and ‘painful’. But it’s exactly because he knows how painful they can be that he is the right man for the job of ensuring the damage is limited, Bruins expects.
‘I hope people will look back with a bit of mercy and say: he did try his best.’ With that remark, Bruins manages to gain a little bit of sympathy from a grumbling audience at Erasmus University Rotterdam after all.
Lion’s den
For the opening of the academic year, the minister stepped into the lion’s den. And he got what he could have expected at Erasmus University: one plea not to make cuts after another. Those cutbacks are penny wise, pound foolish, said Annelien Bredenoord, rector of Erasmus University, to the minister, who was listening intently from the first row.
If you see the sciences as a kind of Jenga tower, she explained, this government is pulling out all kinds of crucial blocks, which seriously shakes the tower: fewer international students and fewer money for young scientists will lead to less innovation and less economic growth.
Departing President of the Executive Board Ed Brinksma also made his dissatisfaction clear. ‘I urge the minister to abandon this disastrous course. By retreating behind our dikes, we will only become more of a pawn in international movements.’
‘No destruction’
Earlier that same afternoon, the minister had also visited Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, where he spoke to ten students in the teacher training programmes. At the end of the session, a student urges him not to make cuts. Bruins’ response is immediate: ‘I agree the cutbacks are quite ugly. But I’ll fight to make sure there will be no destruction of valuable things.’
A staff member of the university of applied sciences thought this was strange. As soon as the minister left, she said to the students: ‘Isn’t that weird, for him to pretend like he’s not responsible for those cutbacks? It sounds very friendly, but he’s the one who put his signature underneath.’
Indeed, Bruins is trying to combine his responsibility for tough policy with a message of hope and pugnacity. He had already seen the video of that Jenga tower, he said on stage at Erasmus University. ‘I will not be the minister who removes the last block.’
‘Not left me unmoved’
Is he distancing himself from his own cutbacks? Bruins wasn’t there when PVV, NSC, VVD and BBB negotiated the outline agreement. But, he says to HOP afterwards, ‘I cannot distance myself from the cutbacks. I’ve said yes to the outline agreement and I’ll have to implement them. But I’m currently talking to Universities of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and other parties and with the government about the question of how we can go about it in the most sensible way.’
Bruins emphasises how ‘painful’ he finds the cuts to the sector plans. According to the universities, the measure could cost 1,200 jobs. ‘That has not left me unmoved’ The slow-progress penalty also ‘really is an ugly measure’ that may already be causing uncertainty for students. But the bottom line is: the financial section of the outline agreement is leading.
So why be involved in the first place? At the opening of the year, he explains that he wants to take responsibility at this difficult time. Now more than ever, the Netherlands needs a minister that knows how valuable education, culture and sciences are, says Bruins. ‘Someone who knows how we can preserve that which is valuable.’ He will fight for it, he says again.
