Utrecht University

The Netherlands is "blind to drought" according to researcher Henny van Lanen of Wageningen University. The country needs to build up larger reserves of fresh water to prevent drinking water running out during extreme droughts, multiple experts warn, Het Parool reports.

"As a low lying country with large rivers, we are always working on preventing wetness. That explains why we are now so surprised by the drought", Van Lanen said to the newspaper. "Dutch water policy is very conservative: the rest of Europe has been arming itself against drought for much longer."

More children in primary schools in the Netherlands are being bullied than parents and teachers know of. One in three bullied kids never tell their teachers, parents or friends about it, according to study 'What works against bullying' by five universities and the Trimbos Institute, RTL Nieuws reports.

About 30 percent of Dutch kids are sometimes bullied. One in 14 children are even bullied multiple times a week. A third of these bullied kids have never told anyone about it, according to the study. 

The HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and Utrecht University decided to suspend their contributions to female student association UVSV in response to a number of incidents during hazing, NU.nl reports.

Noord-Drenthe is the most prosperous region in the Netherlands, according to the Broad Prosperity Indicator by Rabobank and Utrecht University. Residents of Noord-Drenthe are happy, healthy and feel safe. Gooi also scored very well. People living in the Randstad are much less satisfied, ANP reports.

The number of people prosecuted for human trafficking in the Netherlands last year, was a quarter lower than the year before, NRC reported on Monday based on figures from the Council for the Judiciary. This does not necessarily mean that human trafficking decreased, but rather that the police are giving priority to other crimes, experts said to the newspaper.

Last year 103 people were convicted of human trafficking, compared to 139 in 2015 and 156 in 2013. 

Planting a vegetable or fruit garden in the immediate vicinity of Chemcours factory in Dordrecht is not safe, scientists said to the Volkskrant. According to them, the amounts of GenX on plant leaves are so high in the area, that eating fruit and vegetables grown there can be dangerous to your health.

GenX is a toxic substance. Last week researchers from the Vrije Universiteit reported that there is GenX in drinking water around Zuid-Holland, but that the concentrations aren't high enough to be dangerous. 

The Netherlands performed exceptionally well in both the World and Europe University Rankings 2017, according to Times Higher Education. All 13 of the Netherlands' main research intensive universities made the top 100 of the Europe ranking and top 200 in the World ranking. 

The Netherlands outpaced the European average when it came to research reputation, citation impact and research productivity, as well as income measures to academic staff. 

The University of Amsterdam is launching a test run in allowing part-time students to pay tuition per subject they take, instead of paying for a whole year. The University believes that this will be ideal for motivated students who don't have time to attend university full time because they also work, take care of a family member, have their own business or have to do an internship, Het Parool reports.

Dutch climate change professor Guus Velders was named as one of the most influential people on the planet in the Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential list. He is the only Dutch person to make it onto the list.

Airbnb is a major player in Utrecht. According to calculations by Utrecht University, per year about 40 thousand people book an overnight stay from a private renter in the city via Airbnb. That is about 15 percent of all overnight stays, AD reports.

Hazing at student association Veritas in Utrecht reach such proportions that students fainted, according to AD. They also got too little sleep and sustained erysipelas infections. "It was Guantanamo-like scenes", an anonymous source said to the newspaper.

"Slurring guests were screaming in the face of prospective members that they were too ugly to fuck, while getting beer over them. They also had to incessantly perform fitness exercises", the source said.