De VVD heeft er weinig vertrouwen in dat het geld voor internationalisering in het hoger onderwijs goed wordt uitgegeven. De partij wil meer inzicht krijgen in de besteding.
Het is belangrijk dat steeds meer Nederlandse studenten een tijdje in het buitenland studeren, vindt VVD-kamerlid Anne-Wil Lucas. “De vraag is alleen of de brei aan clubs en instituten die ‘iets internationaals’ doen en waar we nu klakkeloos geld naartoe overmaken, daadwerkelijk bijdragen aan het bereiken van dat doel.”
In de rijksbijdrage voor universiteiten en hogescholen zit een budget voor internationalisering. Zo krijgt het hbo 3,5 miljoen euro die hogescholen naar eigen inzicht mogen besteden. Het wetenschappelijk onderwijs krijgt veel meer geld, namelijk 87,4 miljoen euro, maar daarvan gaat het leeuwendeel naar Nederlandse instituten in het buitenland.
Het antwoord op Kamervragen waarmee het ministerie gisteren kwam, is volgens de VVD onvoldoende. De liberalen vragen zich af of de verschillende organisaties die zich met internationalisering bezighouden, niet allemaal hetzelfde doen. Ook willen ze weten op basis van welke afspraken “deze clubs” worden gefinancierd. “De controlerende taak van het parlement komt zo in het geding”, aldus Lucas.
New dean
Dr Rob Fastenau has been appointed the new Dean of the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science. He succeeds Professor Daan Lenstra, who retired. Fastenau studied physics at TU Delft, gaining his doctorate in 1982. He then worked as research group leader at Philips Research in Eindhoven and in Sunnyvale, California. Fastenau has an extensive network within academic research circles and some 30 years of experience in both research and management in the high tech industry.
NightBalance wins
Delft techno-starter NightBalance has won the Venture Challenge Fall 2010 Award, worth 25,000 euros in prize money. NightBalance, a member of Yes!Delft, developed a new sleep therapy system to help, for example, sufferers from Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (Osas), an extreme form of snoring in which people stop breathing momentarily while asleep. Osas can have serious health consequences, including an increased chance of heart failure.
Richer, poorer
Students who have wealthier parents are more likely to graduate than students whose parents are poorer. Women and non-Western immigrant students especially benefit from having wealthier parents. Netherlands Statistics (CBS) published these findings in its annual ‘Education Statistics Yearbook’. The CBS conducted a year-long study in which students were divided into five groups based on their parents’ income levels. The result was that the richer the parents, the more frequently the students graduated: 65 percent graduation rates for lower income students, 78 percent for higher income students. Wealthy, ethnic Dutch students are less likely gain university degrees than wealthy non-Western Dutch students: 33 percent to 38 percent, respectively. Female students with wealthy parents also do much better academically than female students from poorer families: 84 percent of wealthy female students graduate from university, compared to just 70 percent of females from poorer families.
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