State of affairs branch campus Yantai

A significant majority of the House of Representatives voted on Thursday 23 February in favour of a change to the Higher Education and Research Act (WHW) to promote internationalization. All parties except from the PVV supported the proposal of the minister of education. This proposal creates more opportunities for institutions of higher education to provide education abroad.

Next step: Senate

The next step will be presentation of the modified Act to the Senate. This is planned on tuesday 28th of march in the comittee of Education, Culture and Research. After that it can be planned for plenary discussion in the senate. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science will then draw up an Order in Council (AMvB; Algemene Maatregel van Bestuur) that will regulate implementation of the Act. The AMvB will probably be discussed by the House of Representatives in the summer.

This Act and its relevant regulations will make it possible to create a ‘firewall’ between the UG degree programmes in Groningen and those in Yantai. The Bureau of the University and the Ministry of Education are working together towards the same goal: assuring education quality and creating an effective governance structure for international education without endangering the accreditation of the degree programmes in the Netherlands. Rector Elmer Sterken has discussed further details with the program directors of the faculties Science & Engineering, Medical Sciences and Spatial Sciences.

Curious about Yantai?

If you want to learn more about the city of Yantai and the future campus and its facilities, watch this video: