Budget Cuts and Humanities at Risk

Budget Cuts and Humanities at Risk in Utrecht and Beyond

An Interview with Pooyan Tamimi Arab

By Sarah Virgi

November 2024 – Following recent budget reductions in higher education, several Dutch universities, including Utrecht and Leiden, are preparing to cut or consolidate programs within their humanities faculties. These changes could impact a wide range of fields, from African and Latin American Studies to German, French, Italian, Arabic, Islamic studies, and Religious Studies. In this interview, Pooyan Tamimi Arab, a faculty member at Utrecht University, discusses the rationale behind these restructuring efforts and their implications for students, researchers, and the future of humanities education in the Netherlands. He sheds light on how Utrecht University is navigating these financial adjustments and what this means for preserving specialized knowledge in a rapidly evolving academic landscape.

According to Tamimi Arab, these measures, rooted in financial concerns, also signal a broader political shift that raises questions about the role and value of the humanities for the current right-wing government in the Netherlands. He discusses the impacts of these cuts, not only on academia but also on the cultural and intellectual fabric of Dutch society, underscoring the broader consequences for education, research, and the future of critical knowledge fields in the Netherlands.

About Pooyan Tamimi Arab

Pooyan Tamimi Arab is an assistant professor at Utrecht University’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and a member of the Young Academy of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Interview

Sarah Virgi: Could you briefly outline the recent measures regarding humanities faculties announced by various Dutch universities, including Leiden and Utrecht, where you are a faculty member?

Pooyan T. Arab: The context is that the PVV, the populist Party for Freedom, won the 2023 elections and is now the largest party in the House of Representatives. The new coalition has agreed on massive budget cuts in higher education. This, according to our humanities dean, has accelerated the need for drastic action. Plans were already in place to either restructure or eliminate bachelor’s programs that don’t consistently enroll at least 25 students annually (excluding students taking courses within these programs). Now, the budget cuts provide a controversial justification for implementing these changes. For instance, B.A. degree programs like African Studies and Latin American Studies at Leiden are slated for termination. In Utrecht, the same is planned for Religious Studies, Islamic Studies and Arabic, German, French, Italian, and Celtic. Utrecht’s Transition Plan also includes other measures, like cutting the honors program and limiting the use of research grants to reduce teaching loads. In fact, the cuts to bachelor’s programs represent only a fraction of the overall required reductions.

SV: In your opinion, what is driving these measures? Are they due to a financial crisis or a political shift in universities?

PTA: Many colleagues and I, from Utrecht and across the Netherlands, see these measures as more than financial or educational adjustments; they also reflect a political challenge that universities are struggling to confront. Eliminating programs in African Studies or Islamic Studies and Arabic under policies driven by the far-right isn’t just a financial decision but also a politically charged one. And what about languages with major historical and intellectual significance, like German and French? Universities need to stand firm on the values of the humanities and recognize that these disciplines aren’t profit-driven – even if some colleagues do highlight the economic value of language and cultural studies. The responses from Utrecht and Leiden indicate that universities aren’t well-equipped to handle the impact of a populist, anti-intellectual, and anti-science political onslaught.

SV: What are the potential implications of these plans for the future of Religious Studies, Islamic Studies, and other humanities subjects in the Netherlands?

PTA: If these plans go forward, we will shrink in size and in quality. Unique disciplines like Celtic could disappear entirely. I’m not opposed to revising or even cutting bachelor’s programs in principle, but the current Transition Plan in Utrecht lacks a clear financial rationale, which makes it difficult to evaluate. Moreover, bypassing professors with years of service in designing the plan has seriously harmed the atmosphere in my faculty. Integrating subjects like Religious Studies into larger programs could potentially work—I see this in action at University College Utrecht, where liberal arts students can choose a religious studies track. However, if excellent researchers leave the Netherlands or never receive training here in the first place, if they don’t have a base from which to head out, the prospects for successful integration into other programs become much weaker.

SV: How do you expect the current situation to affect your research and career?

PTA: I recently received a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council, which funds a PhD and a postdoctoral researcher for my project Iran’s Secular Shift. It’s surrealistic, given the budget cuts and my faculty’s Transition Plan. Although I’m worried about what the future brings, and about how exactly these plans will be implemented, I’m also in a relatively privileged position. For early career researchers, I’d advise focusing on publishing in top journals and completing their first monograph, while also keeping in mind that social impact will still be expected of them if they want to stay in academia. They should understand that institutions’ admirable statements about “diversity and inclusion” and “recognition and rewards” guarantee nothing and shouldn’t be counted on.