By bundling forces and dividing tasks, universities can bring more focus to their education and research. This focus brings beautiful scientific innovations to society. One of them is the development of an effective PFAS filter at Wageningen University & Research. The sector plan researchers developed a reusable and scalable filter that can easily remove PFAS from water. At the University of Amsterdam, a research group has been established that looks into responsible AI solutions for challenges in healthcare data analysis. In addition to scientific developments, the sector plans also provide educational solutions for society, such as the beta4all bridging program. Thanks to this program, more academically trained beta teachers graduate, of which there is a significant shortage.

The sector plans were created to allow universities to coordinate, profile, and combine their strengths in research and education. The evaluation reports of the sector plans Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH) and Beta & Technology (B&T) show that this approach has also been successful for the universities themselves. New research and teaching positions have been created with the sector plans. National cooperation and coordination within and between disciplines and between universities have clearly improved.
We also see an influx of new talent, and more emphasis is placed on diversity when hiring scientists. For example, the new positions in Beta and Technology are half female.

With the Framework Agreement in 2024, the sector plans were at risk of disappearing. Minister Bruins chose to maintain the sector plans to preserve 1200 permanent jobs for scientists, although other painful choices had to be made due to budget cuts in higher education and science. Based on the positive evaluation of the two sector plan committees, Minister Bruins has decided to continue funding the sector plans (2018-2024) for Beta and Technology (B&T) and Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). This amounts to over €100 million per year. Due to the success of the existing sector plans, it is currently being explored whether this instrument can also work for other scientific disciplines.