The Education Council wishes to see changes to the current closed system of higher education. This would provide opportunities for non-government-funded providers, such as LOI University of Applied Sciences or overseas universities, to seek government funding for their study programmes.
14 April 2004
The Education Council believes that the regulated admission of private providers would stimulate competition in higher education. Access for private providers would enrich the market: more tailored programmes, more variation in programme duration, more programmes, more choice for students and an increased return on investment.
However, the Education Council does not advocate entirely free access to the market. Free access for more providers would mean that government budgets would be splintered by distribution across a variety of institutions and programmes. It would also put the continuity of certain programmes under strain and might even lead to the disappearance of some programmes, which would constitute capital destruction.
Maintain the same criteria
If new providers wish to provide government-funded education, they should have to meet the same criteria as the current government-funded providers. This would mean that private providers would have to seek accreditation by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) or forego government funding. It would then be for the government to decide whether or not to provide funding to an accredited programme of study. The criteria to be applied would include aspects such as financial and regional accessibility, effectiveness (private and social return on investment) and the available space within the government-funded system.
Experiment with admission
The Education Council recommends that initial experiments are conducted to allow access to new higher education providers. Two options are proposed. In a given sector, healthcare for example, the government could decide to increase the central government budget and the number of study programmes. Every institution offering accredited programmes could then compete for the government funding. The second experiment variant would not require additional funding. Institutions could compete for government funding of their programme as soon as an existing programme loses its accreditation (which also means an end to the right to receive government funding). The Education Council prefers the second option.