Researchers launch petition against budget cuts
Two Antwerp researchers have launched a petition against extreme budget cuts at Belgium’s research and heritage institutions
1,600 signatures
The initiators of the petition are two researchers from Antwerp University, one from the Université Catholique de Louvain and one from the Dutch Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen.
In their petition, the scientists expressed concern about the alarming budget proposals, although they also state that the budget cuts are not as drastic as first announced. “The institutions that are facing severe budget cuts include important guardians of Belgium’s heritage and history, such as the Royal Library (pictured), the State Archives and the Museums for Fine Arts,” said the scientists in a statement.
The researchers clarify that their “concern is mainly that the proposed austerity does not come with a clear vision of the future of the federal research institutions within society as a whole.”
Key elements in this vision, the continued, should be the digitisation of collections, the preservation of scholarly potential and optimal access – both for scholars and for the general public. According to deredactie.be, Sleurs has requested all research institutions to submit their priorities.
Photo courtesy http://fr.academic.ru
Educational system
million school-going children in 2013
million euros Flemish education budget for new school infrastructures in 2013
percent of boys leaving secondary school without a diploma
- Education in Flanders
- Secondary education reform
- European Encyclopaedia on National Education Systems
