De Tweede Kamer vraagt de Algemene Rekenkamer uit te zoeken hoeveel geld er nu daadwerkelijk aan ondersteunend personeel wordt besteed in het hoger onderwijs. Een motie daartoe van PvdA en SP werd dinsdagmiddag aangenomen.
Volgens de SP en de PvdA is nog steeds onduidelijk wat wordt verstaan onder de overhead hogescholen en universiteiten, laat staan welk deel van het budget daaraan wordt besteed. Staatssecretaris Zijlstra zei vorige week dat hij een Rekenkameronderzoek eigenlijk overbodig vindt. De overhead van hogeronderwijsinstellingen ligt volgens hem rond de 25 procent en dat vindt hij te hoog. Hij wil afspraken maken om op de overhead te bezuinigen zodat er meer geld in het onderwijs kan worden geïnvesteerd.
It’s often the case that student associations’ possessions – like banners, chairman’s glasses or beer taps – are stolen. It’s therefore often the job of a board, team or commission to recover those stolen items, which apparently weren’t very well-guarded anyway. A good example of this is student tennis club Obvius’ ‘league trophy’, explains board member, Joor Arkesteijn.
“During a party held before the start of the season’s league matches this trophy is awarded to the ‘best’ team in the league. And by ‘best’ team we mean the team that scores the most points during the games and trivia quizzes we play during the party.” The winning team’s members get their names written on the trophy, and this coveted prize is then publically displayed during match days, much to the displeasure of the losing teams.
“The trophy therefore doesn’t remain in the possession of the winning team for long, but rather ‘by accident’ is taken by one of the other teams. And this sometimes already happens on the same night the trophy is awarded! But in order to be able to display the trophy during the league matches, the winning team must try to get the stolen object back as quickly as possible, which leads to lots of fooling around. Moreover, the club’s events commission, which organizes the match league parties, is also responsible for getting the trophy back in time for the next party, so it can be awarded to the next winning team.”
This year’s winning team was awarded a trophy and a mascot in the club’s color green: Oscar from Sesame Street. But both Oscar and the trophy went ‘missing’ during the pre-match practice day held in Amsterdam. It’s still a mystery as to where these items disappeared to and what kind of offering must be made to get trophy and mascot back. (JT/DM)
This is the last issue of As in Olde Times. Next week we start with a new feature.
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