Millions more for safe higher education
There will be a special program to improve social safety at universities and colleges for which €16 million will be available. There will also be stricter laws and regulations, Minister Dijkgraaf announces.
“A researcher who leaves science with pain in his heart because he does not feel safe. A student who dares not ask questions during class because of the behavior of the lecturer. These are examples that are very close to my heart,” Minister Dijkgraaf wrote in a parliamentary letter on social safety.
It will be hard work to improve social safety in higher education and science, the minister expects. Among the issues are power inequality, competition, and sexism.
Responsibility to provide care and a duty to report
Many actions must be taken by the institutions themselves, but Dijkgraaf can amend laws and regulations. For example, he wants to put the responsibility to provide social safety in the Higher Education and Scientific Research Act. That will make it easier to ensure compliance by institutions.
As far as he is concerned, the rules would then also become stricter. The board must then report to the Education Inspectorate any suspicion of sexual violence or sexual harassment against a student by an employee. This obligation to report currently only applies if the student is a minor. It was once believed that minors need more protection. “But in education, there is always a dependent relationship, whether the student is a minor or not,” Dijkgraaf believes. “Hence the extension to all students, regardless of age.”
Imposing silence will soon no longer be allowed, either. “Unfortunately, arrangements are sometimes made forcing victims to remain silent about incidents,” Dijkgraaf observes. “I find that particularly reproachable.” He wants to prevent that from happening again.
Not easy
Dijkgraaf tempers expectations about creating a safe environment in higher education. “It is not easy because of the special nature of education and science,” he believes. “In it, learning, development, and open debate are central and there are always dependent relationships.”
But he does make an effort to get higher education moving. A budget had already been announced for research, monitoring, and culture change: four million euros annually through 2031.
Four million euros will be added to that over the next four years (for a total of €16 million) for a program to bring about concrete change in the structure and culture of institutions. This will apply to students and staff alike.
Can a troublesome or critical teacher, for example, be dismissed just like that? Among other things, the program should make “the labor law position of staff in relation to freedom of expression and academic freedom” negotiable. He is also thinking of management training and flattening hierarchical structures.
Reporting
Another intervention: reporting procedures must improve. “Complaints by no means always lead to resolution,” Dijkgraaf believes. “As a result, reports are not necessarily filed.” Structural problems, he says, are regularly dismissed as “incidents.”
Partly for this reason, he wants to ascertain whether there should be an independent hotline that students and staff can turn to for support and advice.
