Minister of Education: number of international students doesn't need to fall that sharply

The parties in the cabinet PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB believe that fewer international students should come to the Netherlands. They planned on making that happen through stricter language policies and austerity measures totalling 293 million euros annually.

However, since their plans would not get a majority in the Senate, they had to compromise. Otherwise, they wouldn't win over the opposition parties. After weeks of negotiation with four opposition parties, they've agreed the budget cuts related to the influx of international students by 168 million euros a year.

Although the budget for higher education and research is going to pass mostly unscathed, the senators had questions about it. One of the senators, from the left-wing party GroenLinks-PvdA, wondered if reducing the number of international students to this extent would be even feasible.

Confirmation
However, Minister Eppo Bruins does not expect this to be a problem. His answer to the senators is in line with an analysis by the Higher Education Press Agency (HOP), which calculated that the remaining austerity goals had already been achieved.

This is because the ministry foresaw an increase in the number of international students and took this into account in the budget, earmarking some money for it. If the number of international students stays the same as it is now, the Ministry of Education will spend less money than estimated. 

In Bruins' words, "if this growth were to fail or at least be lower than expected, it could significantly contribute to realising the remaining austerity goals." Last year, the number of foreign first-year students enrolled in Dutch universities dropped by 6 percent compared to the previous academic year, but the minister prefers to wait and see the next forecasts.

Shrinking regions
Opposition parties were the only ones who asked questions, as PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB didn't need clarification on the budget. BBB only asked about universities of applied sciences in shrinkage regions. The party asked if any agreements had been made with those regions concerning the number of international students.

Bruins replied that no such agreements had been made. Most programmes offered by universities of applied sciences in shrinking regions are taught in Dutch, so the measures announced will "affect them less or not at all." Otherwise, the minister believes programmes in the region have plenty of ways to demonstrate their usefulness and need to attract international students. For example, they could refer to labour market shortages, unique courses and their proximity to neighbouring countries.