Covenant Bachelor Frisian at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen signed

The covenant allows for a full, sustainable and accessible bachelor's program in Frisian language and culture from September 2026 and the continuation of the rich academic tradition in this field. The participating parties in the Covenant are the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK), Province of Fryslân and the University of Groningen.

Cooperation between institutes

Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm of the Fryske Akademy was invited to comment after the signing of the covenant. As director-director, she is very pleased that a full bachelor's degree program in Frisian is again in the pipeline. As a knowledge institution, the Fryske Akademy has drawn up a research agenda in which the Frisian case is considered in an international and multidisciplinary perspective. This is also what the KNAW committee advised in its 2024 report "The Future of Frisian Studies. There it was stated that ‘...Frisistics is not so much one 'subject’ or discipline, but a multi- and sometimes interdisciplinary way of relating to the Frisian case from a fundamental or application-oriented angle.'

IJssennagger-van der Pluijm emphasized that the Fryske Akademy wants to tell stories from specialist knowledge where language, culture, history, landscape, heritage and identity are connected.  "This is also exactly how we see the future of Frisian research as well as education, serving both a fundamental academic and a direct societal interest.  If any one message from my words today sticks, I hope it is this: that in addition to this substantive view of the future of Frisiology, the future lies above all in the cooperation between institutions and in the connection between research and education."