The rector of Brussels’ Dutch-medium Free University VUB Jan Danckaert has slammed the cuts that will be implemented by the Flemish Government from the start of next year. Flemish Government’s funding for Flemish (Dutch-medium) services in Brussels is being reduced and higher education is one area that will be impacted. Jan Danckaert says his university and Dutch-medium colleges of higher education in Brussels will be "particularly badly hit” by the cuts.
VUB Rector slam Flemish Government’s cut “Institutions in Brussels will be hit hard”
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Rector Danckaert told VRT News that while student numbers at VUB continue to grow, the level of funding given to his university is not increasing accordingly. There are currently more than 22,000 students at VUB. This is double the number there were 12 years ago. The latest figures on enrolments for the new academic year show a 6% increase on last year.
Jan Danckaert says that funding for the university is no longer keeping pace with the growth in the number of students. He adds that cuts in the 2026 Flemish budget are a bitter pill for VUB.
“A harsh cut in funding will leave us and other Brussels institutes of higher education exceptionally badly hit, while at the same time Brussels universities and colleges are making great efforts to guide vulnerable students, including many first-generation students, toward a higher education degree”.
Rector Danckaert adds that the university will do everything possible to get the cuts repealed. He asks himself whether it is the case that “Flanders is really now abandoning completely Brussels?"