Dutch aid cuts blow for higher education in Global South

The Netherlands has been cutting its international aid budget, dealing a further blow to higher education, science and research activities in Africa in particular, as well as affecting students from the continent and other regions who are intending to study in the European country.

This comes as the United States administration decided at the end of February to terminate 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts, in a move that appears to be prioritising domestic concerns over international issues. Higher education in Africa in particular has been hit hard by this development, as has been reported in University World News.

On 20 February, Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Reinette Klever sent a letter to the country’s parliament saying the government was putting the Netherlands’ interests first through a cut of €2.4 billion (about US$2.6 billion) in aid. The total aid budget in 2024 is about €7 billion.

Which programmes will be affected?

Klever said the country was linking development aid to its interests and was stopping vocational and higher education programmes in Africa, including its scholarship programme.

The minister said the Netherlands cannot solve all the world’s problems with development aid, hence it will focus on trade and economy, security and stability, as well as migration.

“We will eventually stop projects focused on gender equality, vocational and higher education, and sports and culture. In addition, we are reducing our commitment to climate, civil society and multilateral cooperation. We do this with respect for current contracts,” she added.

An international programme that used to be financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) ended in December 2024.

Juriaan Beuk, the spokesperson of Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, told University World News that the agency has closed its offices in Benin, Ethiopia, South Africa, Jordan and Lebanon from 1 January 2025 because OKP ended.

But other initiatives have also been affected. Two institutional collaboration projects that were launched to promote Dutch-Colombia knowledge cooperation in 2018 also ended due to budget cuts.

In one of the projects, Nuffic signed a memorandum of understanding with the Colombian government organisation for higher education promotion, in which all scholarships provided to Colombian professionals to study in the Netherlands were matched with study loans of the same amount by the Colombian government.

He said Nuffic and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP), which falls within a higher education directorate in the Indonesian ministry of education and culture, agreed to collaborate in a joint scholarship programme, which is still running.

The government has also ended its commitment to new European-funded international development cooperation programmes.

Titia Bredée, the former director-general of Nuffic, said: “Nuffic has been involved in education and capacity building projects in low- and middle-income countries since its founding more than 70 years ago. We truly regret having to say goodbye to our valued colleagues and this valuable work that is so intertwined with Nuffic.”

Bredée, however, said Nuffic’s statutory tasks and other work in the Netherlands and Europe, including in the areas of diploma accreditation, student mobility and the Erasmus+ programme will continue.

Consequences ‘will be considerable’

The Netherlands’ organisation for scientific research or Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Spokesperson, Jennifer Bendsneijder, told University World News that the budget cuts have major consequences.

“The impact on future programmes in the field of research for development will be considerable. The cuts in ODA [overseas development aid] funding will, of course, negatively impact the prospects for future programmes commissioned by the ministry of foreign affairs through ODA funding.

“It is unlikely that large research for development programmes, for instance the food and business programme, the research programme on sexual and reproductive health and rights and the programme for research for inclusive development in Sub-Saharan Africa will be continued in the near future,” said Bendsneijder.

“These programmes were aimed at strengthening academic and research capacity in the Netherlands and in developing countries and at finding and upscaling local solutions for global challenges.

“Not continuing these programmes might, thus, affect local academics and researchers in Africa but also other stakeholders like farmers, governments, NGOs and practitioners in African countries,” added Bendsneijder.

She said the decision to stop collaboration in higher and vocational education done through programmes like the OKP will impact negatively on the long-term Netherlands and Africa academic relations, as funding for institutional collaboration and scholarships for African students will no longer be available.

She said her organisation currently manages several research programmes. African countries, among others, financed jointly by NWO and research funders in partner countries will not be affected as they are not funded by the government.

“For future initiatives, the ODA budget cuts in the Netherlands, and elsewhere in the world, might, of course, affect the ability and capacity of African research funders to participate in these international programmes,” she added.

International recruitment changes

Ruben Puylaert, the spokesperson of the organisation Universities of the Netherlands, told University World News that the Dutch government intends to reduce the number of international students, a move that will see the number of those coming from Africa go down.

“Another factor is that this government wants to drastically reduce the number of international students. The government plans to introduce rigorous legislation to significantly reduce the number of English-taught programmes,” he said.

“As a result, many study programmes are at risk of disappearing and the labour market will miss out on highly qualified talent. The legislation has not yet been passed, but it could mean that Dutch universities will be less accessible to students who do not speak Dutch.”

Professor Ruard Ganzevoort, the rector of the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, which is part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, told University World News that some of the effects of the Dutch budget cuts will not be felt overnight, but the “long-term consequences will be slow and sure”.

“Universities have to become much more frugal now; they cannot invest as much as in the past as they wanted and they have to be careful in what kind of projects, partnerships they take [part]," he said.

“One example … there are some Dutch universities that have an agreement with Indonesia science councils that if we have collaboration projects, they will match those funds. When we have to cut our budgets, it means we cannot spend so much time on such projects. It can reduce that kind of collaboration.”

Ganzevoort said a cut in international scholarships will affect African students disproportionately because in other countries, such as those in Asia and Latin America, there are alternative scholarships and options, but less so in Africa. He added that there are fewer students from Africa who can be self funded.

The rector said that despite the government’s policy to reduce the number of international students, citing among other issues limited student housing, many people, companies and the private sector say international students are important for the Dutch economy.

He said their gradual reduction is a loss to the Netherlands because when such students return to their home countries, they represent potential organisations that local institutions can collaborate with through the alumni all over the world.

Alternative opportunities

Dr Tatenda Zinyemba, a Zimbabwean researcher based at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told University World News that before the current Dutch government proposal to cut a significant amount of educational aid, it appeared as though there was already reduced funding or no renewal of some scholarships that were specifically for scholars from developing countries, including Africans.

She said global and local anti-migrant sentiments in Western countries and the need to pursue sustainable partnerships with African governments and universities might have played a role in the government’s decision.

Zinyemba, who obtained her PhD at Maastricht University focusing on education economics, said the cuts do not necessarily mean that there are no opportunities for Africans in the Dutch education system.

She said there are some scholarship opportunities and PhD positions funded from previously approved projects and European Union-funded projects.

She also said there are research programmes that started before the present government came to power that are not affected.

“There are other EU programmes that are ongoing, for example, the Erasmus Mundus programme that is available to masters students. It is basically an EU-funded programme whereby one can attend various EU institutions,” said Zinyemba, who is also the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Research Network, a network of over 3,000 Zimbabwean researchers that seeks to boost collaboration between local researchers and those across the globe.

The Zimbabwe Research Network also guides potential masters and PhD students on local and global funding opportunities.

Student recruitment from Africa

Zinyemba added: “African students intending to study in the Netherlands are, indeed, affected by the cuts in educational funding. It will become much more difficult, I think, especially at masters level.

“This does not necessarily mean that there are zero opportunities. The Dutch government has not really cut so much in education compared to the US, for example. Naturally, though, Dutch universities are becoming a little bit more conservative in their spending because of the current government measures.”

Zinyemba said that, in the long run, this turn of events may work in favour of the continent, as there is a need to boost research capacity at local institutions.

“There’s an increasing interest by some Dutch universities in sandwich programmes whereby a PhD student is co-funded by a Dutch university and a local university.

“These opportunities could be accessed through flagship universities in Africa or through African university consortiums such as the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA).

“ARUA is a consortium of top African research universities that aims to enhance graduate training in Africa. Some ARUA universities have already partnered with Dutch universities in research collaboration,” added Zinyemba.

Clifford Mugoto, a Zimbabwean postgraduate student in global challenges at Radboud University in the Netherlands, told University World News that Dutch development aid helped him to study for his first masters in development studies at the International Institute of Social Studies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

He said he was awarded an OKP scholarship by the Dutch government which covered accommodation and a monthly stipend, but this scholarship scheme has since been ended. The cut will also not affect him.

“[But] the aid cut will affect African students in a number of ways as this makes it harder for students to access high-quality education, especially in specialised fields or prestigious institutions,” he said.

Mugoto said networking opportunities for the Global North and South will be limited.

“Education is not just about learning in classrooms; it’s also about connecting with people from diverse backgrounds. Cuts in funding for international programmes or scholarships limit interactions between students from Africa and those from the Global North, reducing opportunities for collaboration, internships and future career prospects.

“I believe that education thrives on the exchange of ideas and experiences. Reduced financial support for exchange programmes, research collaborations and study opportunities abroad limits the ability of African students to learn from global experts and vice versa, stalling innovation and development,” he said.