NOSE Helen Kret
NOS News•today, 06:31•Changed today, 07:33
The influx of international students into higher education has remained virtually the same this academic year. This is evident from the provisional figures of the colleges and universities.
Last summer, slightly fewer international students started a bachelor’s program at universities. Some more foreigners started a master’s degree. Together, just like a year earlier, this concerns more than 35,000 international university students who entered.
The number of international bachelor’s students at universities of applied sciences has remained the same. There was also a slight increase in the number of master’s students there. On balance, more than 12,000 international students have entered higher professional education.
The umbrella organization of the Universities of the Netherlands mainly points to the albeit slight decrease in international bachelor students. The number of international students in the master’s program did grow, but more than a third came from another study in the Netherlands. The number of master students new to the Netherlands is decreasing.
According to the umbrella organization, the fact that universities have started recruiting less internationally is a possible explanation for the declining influx. Informing people about the shortage of student housing would also have an effect.
Reducing international students
Reducing the number of international students as part of migration is an important theme in the upcoming elections. Almost all political parties want additional measures to limit the influx of international students.
The universities also want instruments with which they can control the influx of international students at educational level. At the same time, the international character of educational institutions must be cherished, they say.
“These figures show that the growth of international inflow at universities has come to a standstill. We therefore call on politicians not to take radical measures that could seriously damage the quality of our education and research,” says interim chairman Jouke de Vries.
Outgoing Minister Dijkgraaf is working on legislation to slow down the arrival of international students in the Netherlands. This should make it easier for institutions to set a maximum number of places for foreign students. Dutch must also be made more explicit as the main language. The bill is currently being amended. It is not known when it will be discussed in the House of Representatives.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science considers it positive that the influx of students is leveling off and calls it important that the system does not come under further pressure.
Decrease in inflow from shortage sectors
The total number of students has increased at universities. A slight decrease can be seen at universities of applied sciences. They also notice this in the shortage sectors of science and technology (-6 percent), healthcare (-3.5 percent) and education (-0.5 percent).
They see an increase of 7 percent among HBO master’s degrees. According to Maurice Limmen, chairman of the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, this is good news: “Because if we want to maintain our lead in the field of innovation, we seriously need more students doing an HBO master’s degree.”
The HBO master has existed since the 2002-2003 academic year. A diploma is equivalent to a master’s degree at university, but focuses more on professional practice.
2023-11-10 05:31:01
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