This book is entitled ‘The Dutch Law on Higher Education’. It concerns the law relating to higher education, which includes both academic education and higher professional education. It also relates to the institutions that are responsible for providing education: the universities, the universities of professional education, the Open University and other higher education institutions, as well as those organisations that are closely connected to them. These comprise the teaching hospitals, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the National Library of the Netherlands (KB).
The law on higher education is largely set out in legislation, both government legislation and regulations established by the institutions. The jurisprudence of the different courts is also important. This dissertation does not address the internal regulations of the institutions ad these differ from institution to...
Show moreThis book is entitled ‘The Dutch Law on Higher Education’. It concerns the law relating to higher education, which includes both academic education and higher professional education. It also relates to the institutions that are responsible for providing education: the universities, the universities of professional education, the Open University and other higher education institutions, as well as those organisations that are closely connected to them. These comprise the teaching hospitals, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the National Library of the Netherlands (KB).
The law on higher education is largely set out in legislation, both government legislation and regulations established by the institutions. The jurisprudence of the different courts is also important. This dissertation does not address the internal regulations of the institutions ad these differ from institution to institution and therefore have a limited local significance. The most relevant form of legislation for this dissertation is the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW), which regulates not only the relations between the institutions and the government, but also those of the institutions and their staff and students. This Act stipulates prescriptions – at times very detailed – on the internal business of these institutions, such as how their management boards are structured and the arrangements for co-participation by staff and students.
The WHW to a large extent determines the relationship between government and the institutions. The assumptions about the question of what form this relationship should take and what the responsibilities of government and the institutions should be in the area of higher education have undergone considerable change in the course of time. This can be seen in the regular amendments to the legislation on higher education that have been introduced over the years. The question is whether the division of responsibilities of government and higher education institutions as set out at a particular point in time are still adequate and whether it is possible to increase the independence of the institutions in relation to that of the government, naturally without prejudicing the responsibility of the government. The primary aim of this work is to provide an answer to this key question.
To facilitate this aim, this dissertation will describe and analyse thematically current higher education law based on the WHW. The subjects that will be addressed include: institutions, the open education system and regulation, quality assurance and accreditation, funding, teaching, examinations and the awarding of diplomas, staff, students, the management structure of the institutions, co-participation, legal protection for staff and students and the relationship between the universities and the teaching hospitals.
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