For an open discussion on the Bursary Experiment

I am a bursary student. I don't fully understand the difference between the Bursary and non-Bursary students. But I know our payment is less than other students. I think that it is better to be equal work, equal pay, equal opportunity etc... I against the Bursary Experiment.

Equal work, equal pay, equal rights/benefits/etc... And if you (as a university) really value excellence, you should value your research staff...

Important topics that should be discussed are in my opinion the social security position of bursary students and funding and practical details of their bench fee, supervision and education.

I am not a bursary student. But if a colleague does the same work as me, they should get the same money and have the same rights. The "bursary experiment" is not an acceptable way to treat PhDs - the workhorses of the academic hierarchy.

I am particularly worried about the fact that PhD students will enter the same research group on different conditions, while largely doing the same job. Also in the current system PhD students have room to shape their own project. Another issue to clarify in an open discussion are the bench fees: will the bursaries have a competitive research budget ?

I'm against the idea of so many bursary PhD-students. It will not be good to the quality of the PhD work (supervision overload and need for additional income) and it is way too less reward for a highly educated adult, who will be working his/her ass off to build a CV that is good enough to get future funding/grants.

I feel like the loan we receive for a PhD right now (not as a bursary) is sufficient. As a Dutch PhD student, I feel like I've invested time and money while finishing my bachelors and masters, and there is no reason to cut short on for example pension. A PhD position is a job, not just another part of my education. This may of course be different for people who come from other backgrounds/countries. If this is truly an experiment (and there are previously defined output measures which can be used to estimate whether it is a success), I'm curious to see how it differs from the bursary system that was canceled ten years ago.

I'm not a bursary student but I think is relevant for all the PhD community to participate and understand the polices related to their research program

Sounds to me like they want champagne taste on a beer budget... I wish the RUG the best of luck finding good PhD candidates in the future. On the short term people might still go for a PhD, but it's becoming very unattractive to do a PhD compared to working in other fields. I guess especially in natural sciences this is likely to produce big discrepancies between industry and university.

Hi Ximena. I too had the difficulty of finding this out. So currently, bursary students are funded by an external source (e.g. a company or a government). This experiments will employ bursary students from University money. This was not possible the last years (although they also did it in the past) because the tax services saw the PhDs as employees and not as students with a scholarship, thus increasing the cost of PhDs. With this experiment, the costs for the University in hiring bursary students is probably less than half the costs of hiring a normal 'AIO'. Can you tell me why you are againsgt the bursary system? I think GRIN, who is organizing this petition, should also have a document with the most important implications.

In deed, this is so big an experiment, you can argue it is not an experiment anymore. Although the bursary system might be a good idea, in my opinion it is important that current employees are informed about the way we might attract 850 extra colleages over the next 4 years,

Hi Simon, This is not a petition to sign against the experiment. It is a petition to have an open discussion with the community. The idea here is to make sure the University Council is aware of how many PhDs, Professors, Staff, etc, are not fully on board either by being opposed to it or by lacking information to have an opinion on it. I will include some links in the text, as I think this is a good idea. However, if you feel people should be able to sign in favor of the experiment, that of course can be done by simply creating another petition and forwarding it to the University Council as well.

Having 2 (or more) types of PhD contracts is just unfair. All PhD candidates should be treated as employees, not as students, including all the rights and responsibilities. Also, bursary system is especially unjust for foreigners who usually don't know the details (and consequences) of their contracts beforehand.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that the difference is quite vague and they should get all the benefits. The reason why the University stopped the previous bursary student line, was that the Dutch tax system didn't allow it. This is for them an opportunity to get it back.

Very good point, I hope they discuss this properly.

Did you know that in this proposal, the future bursary students who come from abroad, will be financially supported so that their funding will be €1700,- monthly? Some current bursary students get less money (down to €1200,- monthley). For them this would be a huge help.

In this bursary experiment, also current students from the Research Master are asked to write their own research proposal. So also Dutch people will be 'experimented' on. I do agree with you that the information given to prospect bursary PhDs should be complete and send in advance of the desicion they make.

I don't understand the difference between the Bursary Experiment and the current situation, since the University doesn't seem to have any limitations regarding bursary students acceptance. If someone could share a link or document that explains this would be very helpful. I am a bursary student and also against the Bursary system.

If there is a way to sign against the experiment, do you also have a way to sign if you are pro this idea? Also, I think that you should mention the results of if your petition succeeds (namely that the experiment is delayed, since the final plan should be delivered before the end of March and the approval from the University won't be finished in time).

I was part of a kind of bursary PhD student and I had very bad experience regarding with salary payment, delays, money for experiments etc. I do not want more foreign student suffer the same