The funding portfolio concerns the way in which higher education in the Netherlands is financed. Currently, the income of Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences consists of three funding streams. The largest and most important of these is the government contribution, a fixed amount that institutions receive annually from the government. The second funding stream comes from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and is intended for specific research projects. Other income, such as from the business sector, constitutes the third funding stream. To maintain and improve the quality of education, it is of great importance for universities and universities of applied sciences to secure sufficient resources.

The method by which institutions are funded is called nominal funding. Nominal funding entails that institutions receive government funding for four years for HBO students and for three years for WO students for their bachelor’s degree and the duration of their master’s. As soon as students take longer than the nominal duration to complete their studies, for whatever reason, institutions no longer receive government funding for these students. The ISO believes that this is an efficiency measure that encourages institutions to keep students’ study duration as short as possible. Through this regulation, institutions are, as it were, ‘punished’ for educating vulnerable groups, second-chance students, and students switching programs. Furthermore, institutions are not funded for offering bridging tracks and pre-master’s programs. The ISO advocates for funding of bridging tracks and an expansion of nominal funding. Additionally, it is important that accessibility of education takes precedence and that quality is maintained.