International students: the government says there’s room for more

A motion submitted by GroenLinks and VVD parties for a program for ‘recruitment and bonding of international talent’ was accepted by a large majority today. Only the SP, the PVV, the Partij voor de Dieren, and the Forum voor Democratie voted no.

Campaign
Minister Van Engelshoven and her colleagues of Economic Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Social Affairs will now have to figure out what the follow-up will be to the multiannual action plan Make it in the Netherlands.

That campaign was launched in 2013 by then-minister Bussemaker, and was meant to ensure that foreign students built a connection to the Netherlands – they were given language courses, internships, and help in finding a place to live.

The campaign was a success, and needs to be continued, according to members of the Dutch Second Chamber (parliament) Zihni Özdil (GroenLinks) and Judith Tielen (VVD), who presented the motion. Foreign students are good for the economy, their argument states. In various industries, there’s a threat of scarcity in the job market, so highly educated internationals are more than welcome. Those tasks are now performed by internationalisation organisation Nuffic.

No additional budget
Minister Van Engelshoven wants a continuation of the program as well, she said in the Second Chamber yesterday. “With the annotation that there’s no additional budget available for this. But since the name of Ms. Tielen is signed below it, and I can’t imagine someone from the VVD presenting an unbacked motion here, I assume this is already well-understood.”

Another motion by Tielen, for the creation of one registration counter for all foreign students, was also accepted. At the moment, they often apply to multiple study programs at various universities, which leads to uncertainty and a lot of administrative hassle.  

Translation: Indra Spronk