VU Amsterdam sees a drop of 25 percent
Number of foreign students enrolled in Dutch universities drops again
Photo: DUB
The drop is driven by Bachelor's students from the European Economic Area (EEA), according to UNL. The share of EEA students fell by 9 percent this academic year. Last year marked the first time that the international inflow shrank. In contrast, the number of Dutch first-year students increased by 1 percent, even though the Ministry of Education had predicted a decline.
Total
In total (first-year students plus seniors), the fourteen biggest universities in the Netherlands now have slightly fewer students than last year: 338,400 against 340,000. Figures per university are not yet available, because these are just provisional counts.
However, the University of Groningen has already reported that it now has 14 percent fewer first-year students from other EU countries. At Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the international inflow has fallen by 23.5 percent. According to the VU Amsterdam board, 21 percent of Bachelor's students now come from abroad and that figure should not fall below 20 percent. That is why it is now time to "balance" internationalisation, they say.
Less recruitment
Six months ago, Dutch universities announced their intention to reduce the international intake, admittedly at the request of politicians in The Hague. However, the institutions themselves also felt that the number of international students could not keep on growing indefinitely. Hence their decision to offer more courses in Dutch and recruit fewer students abroad. At Utrecht University, for example, the Economics & Business Economics programme will have a Dutch-taught track from 2026 onwards, while the English-taught track will introduce an enrolment cap.
In the meantime, the new cabinet aims to cut 293 million euros from the higher education budget by reducing the number of international students as soon as possible. They also intend to make the approval of English-taught programmes much stricter.
Full on the brakes
UNL chair Caspar van den Berg is afraid the existence of certain programmes might be in jeopardy, “also for Dutch students”. According to him, other countries are focusing on attracting more international talent, giving free rein to research and innovation, while “the Dutch government is doing the opposite: it is slamming on the brakes and piling on several additional cutbacks.”