Education Minister Letschert could not be present on Monday afternoon at Groningen’s Martinitoren, where the University of Groningen opened the new academic year. She delivered her speech online.

“Today, I was reminded once again that it’s not only students who struggle with deadlines; politicians can struggle with them too,” she joked. The three governing parties were still arguing over the national budget for 2027. The specially scheduled cabinet meeting kept being pushed to a later and later time, until she could no longer make it to Groningen.

“Of course, I have to be at that important cabinet meeting this afternoon,” Letschert explained. “That is actually in all of our interests, if I may say so here.” The additional funding for education and research is also included in that budget.

Strategy

She went on to deliver her prepared remarks on the talent strategy the government has in mind. According to her, that strategy is necessary if the Netherlands wants to get the work done in the future.

Letschert: “We all know that the Netherlands is aging at a rapid pace.” According to her, the country is experiencing a double aging trend: there are more older people, who are also living longer than they used to. Others will therefore increasingly have to take on more of the work.

“We have to make choices to address this,” she said. The government wants to educate more people for the “jobs of the future” and make sure they end up in the right place. It also wants to “embrace skilled migration in a targeted way again.”

The latter means that international students will once again be welcome, up to a certain maximum, particularly in the four fields the government sees as promising: digitalization & AI, security & resilience, energy & climate technology, and life sciences & biotechnology.

Study choice

But how does the minister intend to ensure that young people choose the desired fields of study? Will the government force young people in a particular direction, for example by imposing strict selection for programs in fields where society supposedly has less need for graduates?

That does not appear to be Letschert’s approach. “There is one thing I want to emphasize here,” she said. “The freedom to choose what you want to study is a great asset, and that freedom will remain. We will never force you to choose something that does not suit you, and we will continue to ensure a broad range of programs throughout the Netherlands.”

The painful side

Still, she believes something needs to change. “I realize that there is also a painful side to this story. If we encourage education in certain fields and sectors while the overall number of students is declining, there will also have to be less somewhere else.”

She did not give any concrete examples. She did say: “We will also have to let things go. A lot of work is already disappearing and offers less and less of a future. It would be a waste to train our valuable talent for those jobs.”

Letschert: “Not everything can be done everywhere, so keep that in mind.” Even within degree programs, attention should be paid to the fields the government has selected. “I hope that the student starting a degree program this week will soon feel it: hey, I’m being encouraged to develop my talent in a clear direction.”

In principle, the government has allocated 154 million euros per year for the talent strategy. That, too, needs to be included in the budget that the governing parties ultimately agreed on yesterday afternoon. In the coming period, it will become clear whether the national budget will receive sufficient support from opposition parties.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.