Number of first-year students drops in the Netherlands

The same
The number of first-year students remains practically the same at UU. This year, 6,483 first-year students joined the university. In 2023, UU counted 6,510 freshers. However, the number of international students decreased. In 2024, 777 first-year students from abroad enrolled in our university. That's 12 percent of first-year students. In 2023, there were 923 international freshers, which was 14.2 percent of all first-year students.

The University of Amsterdam is still the largest in the Netherlands but has seen the number of first-year students drop by 3 percent. The neighbouring VU University Amsterdam is down by 6 percent. In both cases, this amounts to a difference of almost three hundred students.

The decline in the number of international students is more pronounced in Maastricht, which saw a decline of 8 percent. That's over four hundred fewer international students than last year. Maastricht is the university with the most international students in the country. 

The technical universities of Twente and Eindhoven are exceptions: both are up 9 percent, while Delft grew by 2 percent. Erasmus University Rotterdam also made a small leap upwards, with a 4-percent growth.

Behaviour, technology
Programmes in the behavioural and social sciences (such as psychology, criminology and communication) are less popular among students from abroad. Seventeen percent fewer foreign students were attracted to these courses.

However, the technical sector is growing for the first time in four years. Though the popularity of that domain is still declining among Dutch students, there were 150 more enrolments from the rest of Europe and three hundred more from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Europe
The ratio of European to non-European first-year students is slowly changing. Dutch universities are attracting slightly more students from outside Europe. The share of international students from outside the EEA has risen from 23 to 26 percent in four years.

Universities can charge higher tuition fees from non-European students because the government does not subsidise their studies. The current cabinet wants to reduce the number of international students, but this mainly concerns European students, who are also contemplated by the subsidies. Critics of this policy underscore the long-term gains for the treasury, given that some international graduates stay in the Netherlands and join the local workforce.