IOB under threat: Flemish government may cut core funding
With great shock, we learned yesterday that the Flemish government has announced its intention not to renew the management agreement with the Institute of Development Policy (IOB) at the University of Antwerp. The funding associated with the management agreement amounts to €2,643,429 in 2025 and forms the backbone of our operations, sustaining 32 core staff and our teaching and research activities.
Since its creation in 2000 IOB has consistently received highly positive evaluations. Only weeks ago, as requested by the Flemish government administration, we submitted our new policy plan and our budget for the 2026–2030 period. Like earlier agreements, the ongoing 5-year management agreement (2021-2025) announces its renewal in case of a positive evaluation. Negotiations with the Flemish government administration on a new agreement are well advanced. Yesterday’s announcement therefore comes as a great surprise and goes against the reasonable expectations created by the Flemish government.
IOB is widely recognised as a global key player in development studies, and for its regional expertise on Central Africa. Drawing upon a multidisciplinary approach, IOB offers three Master programmes that are particularly oriented towards students from the Global South, while also attracting participants from the Global North. Our global network of high-level alumni active in governments, international organisations, business, NGOs, academia enhances the soft power of Flanders and Belgium by strengthening their visibility, influence and partnerships worldwide. In doing so, IOB contributes directly to the international reputation and policy impact of Flanders and Belgium.
What makes the announcement particularly painful is the timing of its supposed implementation, which would mean we only have 3 months of funding left. This leaves us with pressing concerns about how we can complete the current academic year responsibly, and about the consequences for our students, staff, and international partners.
We therefore regard this announcement as both misinformed and short-sighted, with potentially harmful consequences not only for our institute, but also for the international reputation of Flanders as a hub of academic excellence and global engagement, as well as for the many policy actors with whom we collaborate on a daily basis – both in Flanders and the Global South. We hope that in the next steps – the parliamentary debate, and conversations with the Flemish government – this can be addressed.
(23-09-2025)
The Institute of Development Policy (IOB) is a multidisciplinary institute involved in academic teaching, scientific research and service to the community in the area of economic, political and social aspects of development policy.
IOB has an academic staff of more than 50.
We offer three Master programmes, short-term training courses and a PhD programme.
Our research is oriented to development as a multi-level and multi-actor phenomenon, with research lines focusing on respectively the local, national and international levels of development. Policy advisory work is closely connected to these research activities.
IOB networks with other European development institutes through EADI and CERES, and actively cultivates several institutional partnerships in the South.
A brief history of IOB
IOB is the result of the merger of two previously existing smaller development institutes, the College for Developing Countries and the Centre for Development Studies. This bipolar origin can be understood in light of the history of the University of Antwerp. In 1965, in the framework of legislation on ‘university expansion’, two higher institutes of commercial sciences created in 1852, one public, the other run by the Jesuits, were given university status. The fact that RUCA (Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen) and UFSIA (Universitaire Faculteiten Sint Ignatius Antwerpen) were established side by side rather than as a single university must be understood within the context of Belgium’s pillarised society at the time, where ideological walls separated secular and Catholic communities.