Demonstrators convicted for reacting on police violence after student protests 21 January

Five demonstrators who were arrested during the student protests in the Hague on 21 January, have recently been convicted by the so called super-fast-justice (supersnelrecht). Only 3 days after their arrest and without time for the defence to prepare properly, the students that were accused of throwing stones or other objects to the police received sentences that varied from 40 hours of community service to 4 weeks of imprisonment. The violence used by the police on 21 January has not been questioned in any of the court cases. Source: OM, KSU reporter

University Education (WO) and Higher Vocational Education (HBO) asked government to lay down 6000 euro fine completely on students.

“The college chairmen from HBO en WO asked us to lay down the entire fine of 6000 euro for study delay on students themselves.” This was said by Sander de Rouwe, CDA member of the Parliament, during the UUR debate Tuesday 25 January at Unitas. The current plan is to divide the 6000 euro fine for students with more than one year of delay between the education institution and the students. Source: DUB

New groups of Critical Students in Twente and Nijmegen/Arnhem

Recently two new critical student groups were founded. Kritische Studenten Twente (KST) hopes to stimulate discussion and self-organisation among the students from Twente, to build up a solid student movement. More to the south Kritische Studenten Nijmegen Arnhem (KSNA) was founded around the idea that education should not merely serve the ‘knowledge economy’ as a factory but “education and research should be aimed at the developments of society, free exploration of the individual, emancipation and civilization”. Source: KST, KSNA

UU policies challenged by employees and University Council

Last months several disagreements within Utrecht University dominated the University media DUB (Digital University Paper). Within the Faculty of Beta Science two departments protested. Information Science (informatiekunde) started a petition in December against their own abolishment. Physics and Astronomy (Natuur- en Sterrenkunde) presented a petition on the first Monday of the year – accompanied with a demonstration towards the administration building – against the alleged disproportionally large cuts on their department. The petition also demanded the immediate return of head of department Casper Erkelens, who was fired earlier because of his unwillingness to sign a document on the future of Beta Science. On top of that, in December the University Council refused to approve the Boards budget because of, among other issues, big expenses on overhead and concerns over the Faculty of Beta Science. After an impasse of five weeks the Council eventually agreed in exchange for some promises from the Board. Source: DUB

Student debt increased by 1.1 billion since 1997

The student debt has increased sharply, reported the NRC in January. The amount borrowed by students from the government has increased by 1.1 billion euros since 1997. The expected debt from a student who started in 2009 will be 15.260 euro at the end of his study. According to the Nibud institute, the biggest part – one third – of the average students expenses is spent on housing, followed by food and tuition fees. Source: NRC, LSVb