Universities across the Netherlands are taking part in a national ¡°relay strike¡± to protest against?sweeping government budget cuts?across higher education and research, expected to total about €500 million (?419 million) a year.

Organised by the research funding campaign group WOinActie, the trade unions FNV and AOb and the student union LSVb, among others, university cities are taking turns to shut down higher education and research activities for a day.

Institutions in Leiden, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Amsterdam and Groningen have already taken part, attracting thousands of academic staff and students protesting in solidarity, with further action planned throughout March and April in Twente, Rotterdam, Tilburg, Wageningen and Maastricht. The strikes follow a?demonstration in the Hague last November that reportedly attracted more than 20,000 protesters.

Tim Jelfs, assistant professor in American studies at the University of Groningen, told?Times Higher Education?that the planned budget cuts, alongside the?government¡¯s proposed ¡°Internationalisation in Balance¡± bill, would have a ¡°long-lasting impact on education and innovation¡±.

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¡°Programmes are already being cut, and colleagues are already losing their jobs,¡± he said. ¡°These losses mean unrecoverable destruction to fundamental pieces of our democracy.¡±

¡°The strikes have a very clear goal: the Senate will vote on the budget proposal which includes the cuts in early April, and we are organising nationally to send a strong signal to opposition parties not to allow the budget to pass,¡± Jelfs said.

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The strikes also ¡°serve as important moments for us to organise with colleagues to prepare the fight ahead,¡± he added. ¡°They mobilise thousands of colleagues and students locally to form a national movement, which is our safeguard to protect our future and the future of generations to come.¡±

The challenges faced by Dutch universities did not begin under the current government, the country¡¯s most right-wing in decades, said Lisanne Stone, assistant professor in developmental psychology at Tilburg University and a WOinActie representative.

¡°Universities have been underfunded for a long time in the Netherlands, and eventually they were successful in negotiating more money. Then the current government proposed these new budget cuts, which is why the protest movement was reestablished.¡±

Stone said she was especially concerned for junior researchers amid the planned cuts, who could see their contracts cut short ¡°in an already very competitive world.¡±

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Moreover, she said, ¡°work pressure has been too high for years at universities, and of course with less staff to do the work, it¡¯s only going to increase. We¡¯re worried about the well-being of staff and the quality of education we can give our students.¡±

Thijs Jansen, a public administration student and chair of the Tilburg student union, told?THE?that students ¡°want to show solidarity with the people that are going on strike, and also show how much it is going to impact students¡±.

Course cuts, a predicted result of both budget constraints and impending restrictions on English-medium teaching, could see related student associations close, while crucial student support services, such as university psychologists, are also under pressure, Jansen said.

¡°It¡¯s just going to be a destruction of student life,¡± he said.

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emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com?