Improving diversity, quality and efficiency in Dutch higher education using performance agreements

Abstract

More and more governments have started to introduce elements of performance in the funding mechanisms for their higher education institutions. For instance, through Performance Agreements (PAs), which are contracts signed between funding authorities and individual universities or colleges. The key characteristics of the PAs in place in a number of OECD countries are summarized before turning to the Netherlands, where an experiment with PAs was recently (2016) concluded. The question is whether this experiment actually improved performance in the higher education system, where ‘performance’ is understood in terms of students’ study success, education quality and diversity in the provision of education and research. What has been achieved on these areas? And what can be learned from the Dutch performance agreements experiment in general