Flanders will channel an additional €116 million into college-based graduate programmes over the next four years, Education Minister Zuhal Demir announced on Radio 1 on Friday.

In exchange, institutions will be required to streamline their programme offerings.

Graduate programmes—two-year, practice-focused courses offered at Flemish colleges—have been expanding rapidly. The surge in student numbers, however, has put pressure on the existing funding model, prompting colleges to call for additional support. The new investment package is intended to address these concerns.

Demir stressed that the extra funding must go hand in hand with greater efficiency. “We sometimes finance two nearly identical small programmes located just a short distance apart,” she said. “If we ask taxpayers to contribute more, colleges must also make an effort.”

At present, Flanders offers 32 graduate programmes spread across 212 locations, along with 75 professional bachelor courses delivered at 365 sites. Demir aims to reduce these to a maximum of 175 locations for graduate programmes and 335 for professional bachelors. This consolidation is expected to generate at least €29 million in efficiency savings, which will be reinvested in education.

The €116 million investment will be phased in: €15.5 million next year, increasing to €33.5 million annually between 2027 and 2029.

Additional targeted funding is also planned: €4 million per year for dentistry at VUB, €2 million annually for medicine at UHasselt, and expanded support for Dutch language instruction for students who speak a different home language—€2.5 million per year, rising to €5 million from 2028 onward. Photo by Hogeschool Gent, Wikimedia commons.