Cabinet wants even stricter supervision of English-language education

Minister Eppo Bruins wants to limit the influx of foreign students. He blames them for the shortage of rooms for rent, the overcrowded lecture halls, and lecturers' workloads. His solution: fewer English-taught programmes at the higher education level. In his view, fewer foreign students would come to the Netherlands if most programmes were taught in Dutch, except for a few guest lectures. In addition, he believes this would improve students' skills in the Dutch language skills of students.

Almost all Bachelor's programmes taught in a different language will be subjected to a test. If they fail to meet the criteria, they will have to switch to Dutch. That was a proposal from the previous cabinet, which Bruins is adopting.

We must spend less money anyway
However, Bruins wants to be stricter than the previous minister, according to a letter he sent to the House of Representatives. He has to, if he is to save 293 million euros by reducing the influx of international students, as stipulated by the national budget. The minister believes that universities and universities of applied sciences must cooperate. After all, the cutbacks will go on, no matter what. In his letter, he threatens the institutions by saying there will be less money available per student if the planned measures and "self-management" do not suffice to save the desired amount.

Exceptions
Exceptions will be made, however. Language courses do not have to pass the test, for example. A programme may also be offered in English if that is considered beneficial to a "shrinking" region (i.e. a region where universities attract few students) or in the case of a shortage of a certain type of professional in the labour market. However, Bruins wants to make it more difficult for universities to justify English as the language of instruction by mentioning the "international character" of a field. As far as the minister is concerned, saying that a programme is the only one of its kind, therefore it has to be in English, will no longer suffice, either. Otherwise, he believes the exception will quickly become the rule.

Master's
The test is only aimed at Bachelor's programmes, but that is "by no means a free pass for Master's programmes", writes Bruins. "I will discuss the matter with the institutions and continue to monitor the range of programmes at the Master's level."

Furthermore, he believes Dutch should be the administrative language at universities and universities of applied sciences. Some institutions have switched to English to include international students and staff or to be able to recruit foreign administrators. That will come to an end if the minister has his way. Bilingual institutions will still be allowed.

Student financing
In Bruins' opinion, it is “undesirable” that European students receive financing from the Dutch state and then leave the country once they graduate, without having contributed to Dutch society and economy. Undesirable or not, he cannot do anything about it. After all, European citizens can move from country to country freely. The Dutch government wants to find supporters at the EU level to change these rules, but that is a “long-term” process and the outcome is “very uncertain”.

Universities react
“This letter is a blunt axe cutting into internationalisation,” says Ruben Puylaert, chair of UNL, the association of Dutch universities. “The minister plans to cut 293 million euros from it, which amounts to approximately half of international Bachelor's students nationwide.”

He wonders how conscientious the test to verify the adequacy of the language of instruction will be, if the outcome (fewer international students) has already been defined. Puylaert observes that this changes the focus of the bill submitted by the previous cabinet. “We are very concerned. In our view, this requires a new test by the Council of State.”

Universities have been advocating for more options to manage the influx of foreign students for years. For example, they wanted to be able to introduce an enrolment cap on English-taught tracks. This way, Dutch-taught tracks would remain open to Dutch students and they would not be pushed out by competitors from the rest of the world. This option is now included in the law and can be applied from 2026.

Justification
The amount to be saved has not been substantiated by the minister. Why 293 million euros, and not 100 million more or 100 million less? He has been tasked with making cuts and carrying them out, but the last word has not been said yet. The House of Representatives has asked all sorts of questions about the cutbacks and the answers cover more than a hundred pages.