University chiefs face a ceiling on their salaries to make sure they do not earn more than the prime minister, education minister Ronald Plasterk said at the opening of the academic year in Utrecht on Monday.

‘You are appointed by me, you work with my confidence and I assume that we will work together to implement this aspect of the coalition accord’, Plasterk was quoted in the Volkskrant as saying. In the accord, ministers agreed that no public sector worker should earn more than the prime minister’s salary of €171,000.
Earlier this year, Plasterk came into conflict with the boards at Maastricht and Groningen universities, describing the 30% pay rise for the Groningen chairman ‘unbelievable’.
Plasterk also used the occasion to emphasise that the government was not planning to cut government research subsidies as the university association VSNU has claimed. However, some departments may lose out because they would have to compete for funding with others, he said.