Strikes against higher education budget cuts kick off in The Hague, Leiden today

Students and lecturers from universities, universities of applied sciences, and secondary vocational education are striking against the government’s announced budget cuts in higher education. They will hold relay-strikes in the coming weeks, starting in The Hague and Leiden on Monday.

The protest will start in the center of The Hague, where Leiden University has a campus. Students and lecturers will leave their buildings in a walkout. They will gather in the lobby of The Hague city hall, where a public lecture will be given.

The Hague alderman for education, Hilbert Bredemeijer, will also attend the protest. “The billions in cuts to higher education are a reckless demolition that will affect students, educational institutions, and ultimately society as a whole,” he said. Bredemeijer called the budget cuts “a blow to The Hague as an international city, city of peace and justice, and legal capital of the world.”

From The Hague, the students and lecturers will go to the Garenmarkt in Leiden. Politicians Rob Jetten (D66) and Frans Timmermans (GroenLinks-PvdA) will give speeches there, among others.

The relay strikes will continue on Tuesday at Utrecht University and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. On Thursday, there will be protests at Radboud University in Nijmegen, HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem and Nijmegen, and ArtEZ in Arnhem, Zwolle, and Enschede.

Later in March and April, there will be actions at higher education institutions in Amsterdam, Groningen, Enschede, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Wageningen, and Maastricht. It is not yet known when strikes will happen in Delft, EIndhoven, Middleburg, and Heerlen. The relay will probably end with a nationwide protest.

The government wants to cut over 1.2 billion euros from higher education, with the support of part of the opposition. The amount was initially higher. In November, several tens of thousands of people demonstrated against this on the Malieveld in The Hague.