Dutch institutions are ill-prepared to tackle a spike in rent and living costs
The Netherlands saw a financial windfall earlier this month, with the Council of the EU finally approving the country’s €4.7 billion Next Generation EU funding. The funds were severely delayed due to late application by the Dutch government—a delay that may yet prove fatal to the programme’s intentions of funding sustainability research and digitalisation.
Since the summer, the cost of living crisis has snuck up on Dutch universities and research institutions. The University of Amsterdam was the first to sound the alarm in July, warning that it would be forced to cancel offers for students who had not found housing by mid-August, as rents were unaffordable for many incoming freshers.