On July 5, the HBO Council came out with a sector plan for arts education. Following the report of the Dijkgraaf Committee and the Brinkman Committee, it was concluded that the autonomous fine arts programmes will limit the intake of first-year students by 25%, the conservatoires with direction of classical and jazz by 10%, and the rest by 20%. This is to be achieved over a four-year period. The purpose of the restriction is to focus on top talent.
Last Monday, 24 October, Halbe Zijlstra gave his policy response to the sector plan in a letter to the Lower House. In it, he also gave his opinion on the labour market opportunities of creative MBO courses and a response to Van der Ham's motion on postgraduate institutions. Zijlstra's conclusions are summarised here:
A) HBO art colleges
Zijlstra agrees with the aims of the HBO Council, as it responds well to "noises from society". But he wishes the plan had a sharper profile. By 1 April 2012, the council must come up with a plan of action so that performance agreements can be made with the institutions before the summer. He suggests that there should be more cooperation between the colleges and that centres of gravity should be considered. He is willing to reinvest all or part of the financial resources freed up by a smaller intake, depending on quality.
B) creative MBO courses
According to a forthcoming CBS report (on the labour market position of artists), the percentage of MBO graduates in creative professions who received benefits in 2007 is lower than the average for the entire MBO. Nevertheless, the government has decided to regulate the supply of creative MBO courses. Results will appear in December 2011.
C) postgraduate institutions
The decision on the closure of postgraduate institutions remains. Only for the visual arts sector there will be a transitional arrangement. From the BIS, the institutions will receive an amount of 2.5 million euros for a minimum of 50 places for four years.
SOURCE: Central government
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I think the fact that I visit this site says enough about my attitude towards Zijlstra's opinions. Studying myself at the Utrecht School of the Arts, I can only say from experience that it is impossible to focus on top talent when admitting new students. After all, it is not clear to the admission committees themselves at the moment of admission who these 'top talents' (what a disgusting dwdd word, by the way) are. All those admitted do have some talent, but the separation of wheat from chaff proposed by Zijlstra can only take place after some time, when things like learning speed and perseverance become visible. Anything can still happen, and the people who are admitted are often still so young - they still need to develop enormously. If this plan goes ahead, Dutch art academies will eventually only accept students who have already done a study in this direction - so, logically, purely international students, since the government has made it impossible for Dutch youngsters to do so.
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