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<div>(open letter/op-ed in Dutch daily newspaper<i> De Volkskrant</i>,
signed by most vice-chancellors of Dutch universities, calling for a
halt of commercial platforms used by Dutch public universities)<br>
</div>
<div><b>Digitization threatens our university. It's time to draw a
line</b><br>
<br>
Digitisation and privatisation in higher education go hand in hand.
Dependence on (American) technology companies is increasing. Time to
draw a line, vice-chancellors of Dutch universities say.<br>
<br>
Students and teachers share information on Canvas or Blackboard.
Plagiarism detection is done by sending theses to Turnitin, in the
United States. Open online courses use Coursera or EdX. Applications,
email services, operating systems, and cloud services are provided by
Google and Microsoft. And scientists also use a variety of commercial
services such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, SciVal,
Slack and YouTube in their learning and working environment. The rapid
digitisation of Dutch higher education is increasingly dependent on
commercial platform services.<br>
<br>
It is attractive, because it is inexpensive: the earnings model of
these companies is mainly based on the collection of user data, with
which personalised advertisements and services can be offered. The
student and the instructor become the product; the data is no longer
theirs, university or college of higher education. Although
digitisation is a good thing and in principle there is nothing wrong
with commercial services, something is threatening to go wrong
here.<br>
<br>
Joint policy<br>
<br>
Universities and colleges of higher education have little or no
influence on the way in which data is collected and personalised. Most
providers are not based in the Netherlands and are less familiar with
the public values on which our education is based. Furthermore,
freedom of choice is limited: the market is dominated by a few large
companies. This creates dependence, complicates the negotiating
position and hinders innovation. And, unfortunately, higher education
institutions are not yet jointly deciding whether or not to make use
of certain platforms. As a result, there is no countervailing power
and no joint policy.<br>
<br>
This can have major consequences. First of all, education will become
dependent on companies that determine and modify the architecture of
platforms, without the institutions being able to influence this. This
undermines the independence of education and science.</div>
<div><br>
Secondly, control of data from students, instructors, and researchers
will shift to these companies, which will be able to exploit this data
without public supervision. The conditions under which the services
are provided leave great freedom for platform companies to use data
for their own purposes. As a result, public supervision of higher
education will be eroded.<br>
<br>
Thirdly, these commercial platforms place great emphasis on
personalised services, learning skills and applied knowledge. This can
be to the detriment of attention to education as a shared good. Driven
by user data and market forces, the profitable services are offered,
rather than services that support a balanced curriculum.<br>
<br>
Finally, there is the tension between individual rights, such as the
right not to be 'monitored', and the way in which these companies
handle user data. This potentially undermines the autonomy of
lecturers and students.<br>
<br>
Public values<br>
<br>
Over the past centuries, our education has been built on public values
such as freedom, independence, autonomy and equality. It is the
foundation for equal opportunities for people. This is in danger of
being undermined by this development. Enough reason for us to reflect,
to draw a line and, in doing so, to work together on a Dutch and
European scale. We propose four solutions.<br>
<br>
Firstly, the sector must take responsibility for public values.
Education is a public good; it must remain widely accessible. Its
independence must not be compromised; the rights and freedoms of
students and staff - such as privacy and non-discrimination - must be
safeguarded. And public scrutiny must be guaranteed. These values must
be paramount, also in the case of digitisation and the use of
commercial platforms. These values must not be discriminated against
or haggled over by institutions. In order to monitor this, a framework
must be developed by the sector.</div>
<div><br>
Secondly, the education sector itself will work on a safe and
responsible digital environment. Universities and colleges of higher
education, together with the government and ICT organisations such as
Surf, must examine how platforms can be developed that allow user data
to remain in public hands. Ideally, this should be done at the
European level in order to tackle it on a sufficiently large scale.
The Netherlands should take the lead in this.<br>
<br>
Thirdly, if higher education institutions do use commercial services -
and there is nothing against that as a matter of principle - they
should not deal individually with different providers, but jointly
draw up conditions that apply to all providers. Together we are
stronger. Universities and universities of applied sciences must make
agreements with each other about, for example, security, privacy and
control of the use of study data; the storage of and access to that
data.<br>
<br>
Google and Microsoft<br>
<br>
Finally, the sector needs to learn from other public sectors. Higher
education is not unique. In primary education, the platformisation of
learning environments is developing very rapidly and commercial
providers (Google, Microsoft) are becoming increasingly present.
Relevant parallel developments are taking place in the healthcare
sector, and Dutch municipalities are also busy with a safe and
responsible transformation to a digital organisation.<br>
<br>
This should lead to a social perspective: the joint setting of
boundaries and conditions for the use of commercial platforms by
public organisations.<br>
<br>
Karen Maex, rector magnificus, University (UvA)<br>
José van Dijck, professor at Utrecht University<br>
Corien Prins, professor at Tilburg University<br>
Thomas Poell, program director, UvA<br>
Arthur Mol, rector magnificus Wageningen University<br>
Carel Stolker, Rector Magnificus Leiden University<br>
Cisca Wijmenga, rector magnificus University of Groningen<br>
Frank Baaijens, rector magnificus TU Eindhoven<br>
Han van Krieken, Rector Magnificus Radboud University<br>
Henk Kummeling, Rector Magnificus University of Utrecht<br>
Joke van Saane, Rector Magnificus University of Humanistics<br>
Klaas Sijtsma, rector magnificus Tilburg University<br>
Rianne Letschert, Rector Magnificus University Maastricht<br>
Rutger English, rector magnificus Erasmus University Rotterdam<br>
Thom Palstra, Rector Magnificus University of Twente<br>
Tim van der Hagen, rector magnificus TU Delft<br>
Vinod Subramaniam, rector magnificus Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam<br>
<br>
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)</div>
<div>Origial Dutch version (published 22nd December, 2019):
https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/digitalisering-bedreigt-onze<span
></span>-universiteit-het-is-tijd-om-ee
<https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/digitalisering-bedreigt-<span
></span>onze-universiteit-het-is-tijd-om-ee>n-grens-te-trekken
<https://www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opinie/digitalisering-bedreigt-<span
></span>onze-universiteit-het-is-tijd-om-een-grens-te-trekken></div
>
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