In the Netherlands, the discussion about the sustainability of a binary system has again come up. The best examples of countries that have abolished their binary systems are probably the UK and Australia. Maybe the Dutch politicians should take a look at the developments in Australia.
Minister Nelson’s recent push for graduate school universities and the push for students to complete a general degree before entering elite graduate schools at the nation’s sandstone universities seems to be a return to a binary system. Maybe not of polytechnics and universities in this case, but a binary system of ‘teaching only’ and ‘research intensive’ universities. What is the difference?