Guide for external PhDs

(in Dutch)

Ben je geinteresseerd in wetenschappelijk promoveren naast of na je carriere? Of ben je al buitenpromovendus en op zoek naar tips en trics? Dan is de volgende website en het bijbehorende handboek een goed

Kaft Handboek Buitenpromovendi - geschreven door Floor Basten en Kerstin van Tiggelen

Kaft Handboek Buitenpromovendi – geschreven door Floor Basten en Kerstin van Tiggelen

startpunt! Lees de ervaringen van buitenpromovendi en de tips van hoogleraren over promoveren in deeltijd in het Handboek Buitenpromovendi.

Prout calls on Executive Board to improve status of PhD candidates

On 19 May, Prout sent a letter to the Executive Board to draw their attention to the problems that especially bursary PhD candidates of Utrecht University encounter. These PhD candidates neither have an employee status nor a student status within the University, causing them to find themselves disadvantaged legally and socially. For example, they don’t have access to housing facilities for students (because they are not students), but neither can they find accommodation through the social and private rental sector (because they do not have a labour contract). Another problem is that they have no voting rights at University and Faculty Council elections. Prout has urged the Executive Board to give bursary PhD candidates and PhD candidates employed by the UMCU the same rights and resources as their fellow PhD candidates employed by the university. Read the English translation of our letter here.

PhD candidates elected into the University Council and two Faculty Councils

At the University Council elections in April, two PhD candidates were elected: Eliane Fankhauser (119 votes) in the section alpha/gamma and Frank Hendriks (130 votes) in the section beta/medical. Marco Derks (166 votes), who was on position 5 in the section alpha/gamma of the VLAM list, missed 7 votes to reach the quota and was, therefore, not elected. Together they got 36% of all votes on candidates from academic staff!

Hilke Grootelaar has been elected into the Faculty Council of Law, Economics and Governance, and Lisanne Walma into the Faculty Council of Science. Unfortunately, the other two PhD candidates running for a position in a Faculty Council (Willem-Bart Bartels at the Faculty of Geosciences and Lukas van den Berge at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance) have not been elected.

Prout wants to thank all of you who voted for one of the PhD candidates running for a position in one of the Councils. Aside from the fact that PhD candidates can provide a fresh view on issues at stake, Prout finds it important that the interests of PhD candidates are promoted in the Councils. We wish Eliane, Frank, Hilke and Lisanne all the best in their work and look forward to a fruitful cooperation.

Prout lectures on income taxes, PhD candidates can save money!

On 22 April, Prout organized two tax lectures for PhD candidates. For international PhD candidates, Dennis Reins and Patricia van Dam from TaxDirect  discussed the 30% tax ruling, the M form, and costs that can be deducted from income tax. Marianne Both from Both advocatuur gave a lecture for Dutch PhD candidates.

Many PhD candidates can save a lot of money by applying for middeling, as they experience a strong fluctuation in income when they start their PhD. To find out more about this arrangement, follow this link!

 

Revised experiments on Animals Act Potential consequences for PhD candidates

On 18 December 2014, the Experiments on Animal Act was revised in order to implement EU-Directive 2010/63/EU. The new act aims to create more transparency. Compared to the old system, the most important differences are the creation of the Animal Welfare Body and the fact that there is a Non-Technical Summary (NTS) that has to be written in Dutch. Except for these language requirements, which can be a problem for international PhD candidates, all PhD candidates who perform animal experiments will have to deal with the consequences of this change in legislation. Problems may arise from timing issues, a fee that needs to be paid and the fact that these project proposals can be written for a period of 5 years. It is important that PhD candidates are informed about this situation in order to circumvent these potential problems. Visit our website or visit the website of the CCD or Animal Welfare Body for more information

Utrechtse Promovendi: Bussemaker’s experiment promotiestudenten slecht plan

Minister Bussemaker van Onderwijs wil per 2016 een experiment starten waarbij promovendi geen werknemers van de universiteit meer zijn, maar studenten met een studiebeurs. Prout, het netwerk van Utrechtse promovendi, is kritisch. In een eerder experiment met het zogeheten bursalensysteem werden de beoogde doelen niet behaald. Prout vreest dat het experiment in zijn huidige vorm te weinig verschilt van het eerdere experiment om tot betere resultaten te leiden.

In tegenstelling tot de werknemerpromovendi hoeven promotiestudenten geen onderwijs te geven. Daardoor zouden ze zich meer kunnen concentreren op hun eigen opleiding en onderzoek. In het experiment met promotiestudenten dat de Universiteit Utrecht in de jaren negentig uitvoerde, bleek echter dat de twee typen promovendi in de praktijk niet van elkaar verschilden: het beloofde extra onderwijs voor promotiestudenten was niet beschikbaar, zij kregen niet meer begeleiding van hun promotor, en zij gaven nog steeds onderwijs.

Prout maakt zich vooral zorgen over de financiële en sociale positie van promotiestudenten en hun carrièreperspectieven. Promotiestudenten krijgen geen reiskostenvergoeding, bouwen geen pensioen op en hebben geen arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering. Als zij een beurs krijgen die even hoog is als het nettosalaris van een werknemerpromovendus, dan moeten zij deze onkosten dus uit eigen portemonnee betalen. De kans op een baan na afronding van de promotie is volgens Prout ook kleiner: werkgevers buiten de universiteit zullen het promotietraject niet als ‘werkervaring’ beschouwen, terwijl universiteiten zullen wijzen op het gebrek aan onderwijservaring.

Promoveren wordt volgens Prout op deze manier onaantrekkelijk. “Als promotiestudent kun je eind twintig zijn en nog steeds student, terwijl je voormalige studiegenoten al een paar jaar een ‘echte’ baan hebben,” aldus Prout-voorzitter Sophie van Uijen. “De Minister wil meer promovendi aantrekken, maar wij verwachten exact het tegenovergestelde.”

Government’s Academic Vision

The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has recently presented a policy document Wetenschapsvisie 2025: Keuzes voor de toekomst (Academic Vision: Choices for the Future). Two items are particularly relevant for PhD candidates.

The Minister announces – again – plans for the introduction of a bursary PhD experiment. A bursary PhD candidate is a PhD student, whereas currently most PhD candidates in the Netherlands are university employees. Prout keeps a close and critical watch on these developments.

Executive Boards (Colleges van Bestuur) will receive the legal option to give the ius promovendi to associate professors (universitair hoofddocenten). If an Executive Board decides to do so, also associate professors can become a member of the examination committee (beoordelingscommissie).

 

Jet Bussemaker by Partij van de Arbeid (CC BY 2.0)

Jet Bussemaker by Partij van de Arbeid (CC BY 2.0)

Bursary PhDs in Utrecht? (English version)

Recently there has been growing uneasiness surrounding the bursary system for PhD candidates at Dutch universities. In April 2013, a judge ruled that PhD candidates at the University of Groningen could be appointed as students with a scholarship, but the Dutch Tax Administration disagrees with this ruling. Nevertheless, in May 2013, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker, gauged the opinion of Dutch universities on an experiment with a bursary system for PhDs. In December 2013, the national PhD network PNN published a position paper on the issue. Although there are no indications that anything will change in Utrecht any time soon, it would not be the first time that an attempt to reform the system has been made.

Continue reading

Bursary PhDs in Utrecht?

Recently there has been growing uneasiness surrounding the bursary system for PhD candidates at Dutch universities. In April 2013, a judge ruled that PhD candidates at the University of Groningen could be appointed as students with a scholarship, but the Dutch Tax Administration does not agree. Nevertheless, in May 2013 the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Jet Bussemaker, gauged the opinion of Dutch universities on an experiment with a bursary system for PhDs. In December 2013, the national PhD network  PNN published a position paper on the issue. Although there are no indications that anything will change in Utrecht any time soon, it would not be the first time that the system is reformed.

Continue reading