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PON General Meeting‘The bursary System’

The PON Board

Sharon Ooms, chairmanMarloes Heutmekers, secretary

Ekta Lachmandas, treasurerMarieke Born

Evelinn MikkelsenAnnemarie Weerman

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What is the bursary system?

Dutch Universities are lobbying since 1995 for the implementation of the bursary system, to reduce costs and increase the amount of PhDs.

Bursary PhD’s are considered students, and are thus cheaper

(€800 netto)

However: No occupational insurance, no maternity leave or

WW, no end of the year bonus and no pension.

The bursary experiment

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The bursary system has received a negative advice from the ‘Raad van Staten’ in 2012

However, minister Bussemaker is still planning to start an

‘experiment’

Each university will get 100 bursary PhD’s in 2014

Why is this a problem?

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1. It will interfere with the quality of research at Dutch

Universities 40% of the scientific output at the Dutch Universities is from PhD

candidates

Doing your PhD will be less attractive, talented students will go outside the

acadamic world or to other countries.

2. It will interfere with the quality of education at Dutch Universities Bursary students are not allowed to teach,.

3. No social insurance for bursary PhDs

4. Inequality between bursary PhD’s and PhD candidates

What can we do?

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PhD candidates from Leiden made a petition.

Talk with professors who are known to be against the

bursary system

Talk with local parties from Nijmegen (PvdA, D66..)

Talk to university media/include in our newsletter

Thoughts and opinions??