PvdA congress votes against making technical studies free

The PvdA will not include the proposal to make technical studies free of charge in the election programme, a majority of the party congress decided on Saturday. The proposal would go against social democracy.

Recently, several parties have heard the proposal to abolish the tuition fees for students of science studies. The shortage of technically trained personnel is increasing and making studies free should make the studies more attractive to young people. The employers’ organization of the technical industry and PvdA MP Ronald Plasterk, among others, rallied behind the idea.

Nevertheless, the PvdA decided not to include the proposal to abolish tuition fees for science studies in the election programme. Of those in attendance, 60.5 percent voted in favor of the amendment to scrap the plan. The amendment stated that the proposal was ill-considered and against social democracy, according to ANP. The proposal would also have been called by opponents no more than a ‘trial balloon’, in which one study is favored over the other.