While the three other Dutch technical universities have announced plans to grow substantially, WUR is moving in the opposite direction.
Delft University of Technology wants to increase student numbers from the current 27,000 to 40,000 and Eindhoven plans a doubling in eight years. ‘As a society, we are facing major challenges that students will have to help resolve: nitrogen, the climate, the energy transition, urbanization, raw materials and so on. The private sector is crying out for our graduates,’ says a spokesperson for the 4TU association of technical universities. But WUR is not interested in following suit; on the contrary, it wants fewer students. Rector Arthur Mol: ‘Of course, we also see the private sector tugging at us. I have even heard of companies approaching new graduates when they come out of Omnia with their certificate and trying to seduce them with fantastic employee benefits. Naturally we too are aware of the major challenges, but we have an awful lot of alumni who can help with that.’
Last academic year, Wageningen University had 13,676 students, made up of 5,904 Bachelor’s students, 7,249 Master’s students and 523 exchange students and students doing individual minors. That total included 3,186 international students. On top of that, there were 2,317 PhD candidates. Netherlands and the rest of the world will have to make do with this, says Mol.
We can lend our students to Delft or Eindhoven. That way, we help one another. A truly Wageningen approach
‘Students can already barely find any accommodation. Resource has a harrowing story about two Italian students sharing a room. Can you imagine? What do these companies want us to do? Build more and more student flats until we reach the borders of Ede? What about teaching quality, do we just want high potentials, to become a kind of Harvard on the Rhine? And the work pressure for lecturers? No, our preferred option is to shrink fast. We will be presenting our shrinkage strategy soon.’ Mol does suggest a compromise solution. ‘We can lend our students to Delft or Eindhoven. That will give us some breathing space and let the other universities achieve their growth targets. That way, we help one another. A truly Wageningen approach.’
After the above text came to the attention of the spokesperson, we were given the following additional information. ‘The shrinkage strategy is one of the scenarios. But we could easily put up another education building on campus with some tiny rooms for students to live in. Cosy.’
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