BM 66 – Call for more quality of HE through a refinancing in Belgium
ESU supports the NUSes of Belgium, FEF and VVS, in their call for more funding to enhance the quality of higher education. ESU believes that the Belgian government needs to take responsibility and acknowledge the importance of having quality higher education for the future of the country and society, which cannot continue with limited resources.
The financing of higher education in Belgium is based on a so-called closed-envelope system. Since 1998, the budget allocated to higher education has been stable whereas the number of students has steadily risen. All the higher education institutions, both French-speaking and Dutch-speaking, are facing increasing problems: where classes are abolished, professors are not replaced, there are problems with video-streaming lectures and infrastructures are dilapidated.
With the European, federal and regional elections in Belgium being held on the 25 May 2014, students, teachers, and researchers all over Belgium mobilised on the second of April, to highlight the problem of underfinanced higher education institutions and the implications it has had on the overall quality of education.
Education is key in an active citizenship within a country. Throughout the education process, you develop informed, critical and responsible citizens, promoting values, which will enhance democratic life. Therefore, ESU supports the call of FEF and VVS towards every person concerned about the quality and accessibility of higher education, urging them to show their support by signing a petition for the refinancing of education in Belgium!
