A nationwide process in the Netherlands is discussed in which a number of specific disciplines were concentrated in one or a few Dutch universities. The decisive roll of political arguments and consequences for future government and academic planning are addressed. Both universities and government believed that ongoing retrenchment could no longer be spread over disciplines and faculties proportionally. The Ministry of Education introduced two sets of criteria, commonly used within the context of institutional research. One set of criteria was designed to select disciplines to be concentrated; the other set to select the universities at which a chosen discipline had to be concentrated. Application of the criteria to the fields of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy is examined. Analysis of the decision-making process and its results shows a significant contrast between the most likely outcomes of the application of the sets of criteria and the actual decisions made by the government. It is concluded that in the concentration process, the criteria can only be seen as a translation of underlying political, social, and cultural motives. (SW)