Some universities at greater risk if they lose international students

The accountancy firm PwC has published a report about the financial situation of Dutch universities. In the document, PvC warns that universities may suffer from larger deficits than anticipated because the number of domestic students is falling, aside from the austerity measures announced by the government. In the Netherlands, the universities are subsidised according to the number of students enrolled, so fewer students means less money.

Not a wild scenario
One can't cut back on staff and buildings as soon as the income drops, says PwC. Besides, what will happen to universities if the number of foreign students drops by ten percent?

As it turns out, the loss would be even bigger than PwC initially calculated. The report originally stated that universities would lose 27 million euros, but PwC revised the numbers after being questioned by the news agency HOP. The loss could actually amount to a whopping 37 million euros.

A ten percent drop in international enrolment is not a wild scenario. The number of first-year enrolments from abroad in Bachelor's programmes dropped by six percent in September, before the government's austerity measures. The cabinet ultimately wants to cut 168 million euros from international programmes, partly by ensuring that more programmes switch from English to Dutch.

Unfairly distributed
However, the costs of such cutbacks will not affect every institution equally. Some simply have more foreign students than others. In Utrecht, the percentage of internationals is about twelve percent, while in Maastricht it is over seventy percent.

It also matters where the students come from. European students usually yield less than non-European students because non-EEA students are not subsidised, so they pay higher tuition fees. These students, often from China, India and Turkey, pay between ten and 37 thousand euros annually.

This generates a relatively large amount of money for certain universities. At the University of Amsterdam, it accounts for seven percent of all income, PwC calculates. That is the highest percentage of all universities, which makes UvA vulnerable to international influx fluctuations.

In Delft, Eindhoven and Wageningen, that percentage is around five, while in Nijmegen less than one percent of all income comes from non-European students. The other universities fall somewhere in between.

Adjusting
The question is how quickly universities can adjust if student numbers decline. Something must be done, says one of the authors of the report. Some politicians wish to stabilise higher education funding, though that is easier said than done. "I wonder when a new way to fund them will be found," says Sander van Veldhuizen, PwC partner and education specialist.