Education minister Eppo Bruins is launching a special fund in an effort to “welcome” several dozen top academics to the Netherlands.

The minister has asked the Dutch organisation for scientific research NWO to set up the fund focusing on attracting “excellent researchers”. This should ensure they have the money to live in the Netherlands and continue their research at Dutch universities and institutes, the minister said.

On Wednesday, the NWO and Dutch universities association UNL called on the government to set up a fund to attract American academics who had been sacked by the Trump administration. The Financieele Dagblad also reported that universities and other scientific institutes are interested in bringing US academics to the Netherlands, but that they lack the funding because of government cuts.

“The world is changing and tensions are rising,” Bruins said in a briefing. “We see that more and more scientists are looking for a new place where they can work. Top scientists are worth gold to us and to Europe.” He did not mention the US by name.

Bruins said he is announcing the fund now because this is a time when academics are thinking about their future. “It is important that they consider the Netherlands,” he said. France, Spain, Germany and Belgium have all announced plans aimed at attracting US scientists.

The funding is not new and will come from the NWO budget, which has money set aside for bursaries and research. The exact amount is currently being worked out.

The call to attract foreign scientists comes at a time when the government is trying to cut back on the amount of English in use at Dutch universities, and on the number of foreign students.

Research staff too have been hit by the government’s planned €1.2 billion in spending cuts on education.

However, a spokeswoman for the minister told Dutch News that measures to combat “internationalisation” in higher education are focused on bachelor degrees, not top research.

“High-level knowledge and innovation are important both for our own economy and Europe,” she said.

The minister said he hopes to make more details about the fund – including the conditions and the amount of money – public in the next few weeks.