Netherlands

Ministry/Department of Education: The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is headed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, and there are two state secretaries or junior ministers, each with specific areas of responsibility. The Education Council is the only national advisory body that advises the government on educational policy and legislation.

Since the 1990s, there has been increased emphasis on greater autonomy and decentralization. Many governmental powers have been passed down to the local level. For public schools, the individual municipality and elected school board is responsible for implementing legislation and for policy-making. For private denominational or nondenominational schools, the national umbrella organization of the church or foundation that established the school is responsible for implementing regulations and for policy-making.

Central government concentrates on broad policy-making and encouraging quality education. Educational institutions need to conform to policies and performance standards stated by the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, but they are generally allowed to allocate their finances as they see fit. The Educational Inspectorate supervises the Dutch educational system for the Minister, verifying that schools are conforming to regulations and policies. Individual education inspectors visit schools on an annual basis.

Universities and higher education institutions have umbrella organizations, management boards or executive boards, and they are given a large amount of autonomy by the central government.

Primary and secondary schools are assisted by a large group of support institutions, providing advice on educational theory, teaching methods, and materials. Four of these support organizations are the School Advisory Services, National Educational Advisory Centers, the National Institute for Curriculum Development, and the National Institute for Educational Measurement.

Educational Research: Dutch academic research is extremely well developed with several hundred research institutes and laboratories in the country. Although most research is university related, joint research with industries and contract research accounts for over 25 percent of research at Dutch universities. Natural and engineering science research in the Netherlands is among the ten most productive (in terms of publications) and the most influential (in terms of citations) in the world. Dutch researchers produce 2.45 percent of all scientific publications worldwide. About 75 percent of these publications come from Dutch universities, 20 percent from public or semipublic organizations, and 5 percent come from trade and industry. The Dutch government funds 38 percent of the research, whereas trade and industry funds almost 49 percent. Much of the university research is privately funded. As in other aspects of Dutch higher education, there is an increasing amount of international collaboration in research with foreign scientists on publications, especially with scientists from other countries in the European Union.