Public letter to Minister about financing pre-master students

The University Council and the Executive Board of the University of Groningen plead for the government funding of pre-master students in an open letter to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.

To finance the education, universities receive government funding based on the amount of ‘funded students’ enlisted at the university. In the current situation, pre-master students do not fall within the scope of funded students. This means that universities must finance the pre-master programs with other revenues that would otherwise have been invested in regular programs.

If universities do not get funding for pre-master students, it will decrease the ability of the university to ensure the quality of pre-master programs. Lijst Calimero thinks it is important that the government continuously invests in the quality of pre-master programs. In that way, drop-out of students in regular master programs will be decreased while academic education remains accessible. That is why we support the open letter!