The Netherlands: The Patchwork of the Dutch Evaluation System

In the Netherlands, an evaluation culture has evolved. Systematic evaluation, however, occurs only for strategic R&D programmes and innovation-oriented programmes, and as part of a quality-assurance system of academic research. Informal assessments and bottom-up evaluation activities are dominant in the Dutch approach. Science policy agencies have been interested in strategic changes in the research system, rather than in evaluation. They have also stimulated the development of an infrastructure for evaluation, rather than concentrating on assessing their own activities.