Minister Bruins to modify language test for degree programmes

Last Friday, Bruins sent a letter to the House of Representatives and the Senate about the austerity measures aimed at reducing the number of international students. The letter also covered the upcoming amendment to the Internationalisation in Balance Act. He is going to relax the rules for institutions inside and around regions with a population decline. However, he has yet to define how that will be done.

Why did he write this letter?
The Senate insisted on it. The senators wanted to hear more about the budget for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science before considering it. The senators will also talk to experts about the legitimacy of the budget cuts.

Weren't the austerity measures softened, though?
Yes, the four coalition parties have reached a compromise with three Christian parties and JA21. This means that the saving goals through the reduction of the influx of foreign students have been lowered from 293 to 168 million euros per year. The government can now count on support in the Senate.

What else did the Senate want to know?
How the budget adjustments will be worked out. Some parties may see this as a delaying tactic, while others feel that it is part of their job as senators to treat legislation with care.

How will Bruins work it out?
He has given us a glimpse of what is to come. The "Internationalisation in Balance Act" is already being considered by the Parliament. It states, among other things, that Dutch should become the norm in Bachelor's programmes. All English-taught Bachelor's programmes must therefore pass a test to define whether that language of instruction is the most appropriate one. The cabinet expects that some programmes will have to switch to Dutch, which will result in fewer foreign students coming to the Netherlands. The minister is going to adjust this language test to take the location of institutions into account.

But that's old news.
We knew there would be some flexibility for universities and universities of applied sciences in certain regions. Minister Bruins now writes that it is not only about shrinking regions but also about the regions surrounding them. He will include this list of regions in the legislative text.

What difference does this make?
This means he could also include the exception for the regions in a "general council order", a type of administrative order that the minister can modify relatively easily. A legislative text can't be changed that easily. To do that, either he or his successor would have to submit a separate legislative proposal. The cabinet can't simply implement a stricter language policy by removing regions from the list, nor can it relax the policy and add regions to the list easily.

Which regions are we talking about?
The adopted amendment to the budget cuts proposed by CDA leader Henri Bontenbal calls for an exception for "Zeeland (Middelburg), Limburg (Maastricht), Friesland (Leeuwarden), Groningen, Drenthe (Emmen) and Twente (Enschede), for example." According to the petitioners, these regions depend on international students.

Will the foreign language test soon be a piece of cake for institutions in the right regions?
The minister is sending out mixed signals. On the one hand, he is acting as if the test will no longer be of much significance. The programmes only need to demonstrate that they are important for the regional labour market. "This interconnectedness has often already been substantiated through the strategic choices in the institutional plan," the minister writes, "or in the context of regional development plans and agendas, to which they can refer."

...And on the other hand?
On the other hand, he still sounds strict. Bachelor's programmes in English must all be able to demonstrate their added value or else switch to Dutch. "In areas in decline and border regions, this added value is greater than elsewhere, but even there, guidance is still desirable, especially given the high degree of anglicisation at some institutions," says Bruins. "A completely uncontrolled supply of foreign language education is not desirable, even in those regions."

What does this mean for Maastricht and Groningen, which have many international students?
They can't exhale just yet. Just because they are in a border region does not mean that Bruins will leave them alone.

What will the Senate think of this?
We will have to wait and see, but the compromise with the opposition was not made for nothing. In principle, there is enough support for the budget cuts, including the one on internationalisation, which is related to the language test. Perhaps some parties are hoping that postponement will lead to cancellation. If the cabinet falls before the Senate has approved the cuts – if the spring memorandum leads to problems, for example – then perhaps an adjustment is still possible.