This month the application for the bursary experiment was reviewed in the University Council. We agreed with the proposal under some conditions, which you can find at the bottom of this post.
A little background on the subject: Before bursaries did not have a legal status, but with the experiment this will change. The UG will accomodate 850 bursaries over the next 4-6 years. These bursaries have similar services as a normal Phd employee, like income and working space. They will also be able to follow extra courses that prepare them for a career in both the acamia as the corporate world. We think that this experiment will be a good step forward for the UG to enable more people to promote.

The conditions:

1. Regardless of the tax situation, bursaries will receive 1700 per month during their PhD studentships.
2. Bursaries will receive secondary social benefits, such as maternal leave, paternal leave, parental leave and sick leave.
3. Bursaries who want to explore future career in academia will get the chance to teach. Those bursaries will receive teaching qualification lectures and then proceed to teach under supervision. The chance will be available for all bursaries, EU and non-EU students.
4. Bursaries will receive training and conferences budgets similar to their employee counterparts.
5. All these rights and obligations will be made available to prospective PhD-students on the form of a contract or a letter of appointment made between the University of Groningen and the bursary student.
6. Difference in rights and obligations between bursary and employee-PhD-student will be made clear and available online in the University’s website. Prospective bursaries can access this document and it is expected they can make informed decision to accept an offered bursary position.
7. Person-in-charge (PICs) will be appointed throughout the Graduate Schools to take care of the problems associated with bursary experiment. They serve as a go-to-persons for bursaries.
8. The Board guaranteed the quality of supervision from academic staffs (promotors) and quality of support from non-academic staffs for the success of PhD graduates.
9. The Faculty Councils will be asked to agree on the bursary experiment in their own faculties.
10. There will be regular annual evaluation for the experiment in which the Board of the University will share any problem with the bursary experiment.