The government’s strict plans against ‘Englishness’ are not good for higher education

Minister of Education citing additional regulations to reduce ‘Englishness’ in higher education and the number of international students coming in. According to universities, colleges and students, it is symbolic politics. They fear that there will still be training courses.

In general, the minister of education is continuing the policy planned by his predecessor Dijkgraaf. Last year he pointed out that there was overcrowding in lecture halls, a lack of housing and a high workload among lecturers. This would jeopardize access to education for Dutch students. He argued for more arrangement.

Bruins is now introducing additional measures, which should, for example, ensure that Dutch is the language of instruction in at least two thirds of the bachelor’s courses. It should also be harder for international students to get a basic grant.

By limiting the number of international students coming in, the government wants to save 293 million euros every year on higher education. According to Minister Bruins, this amounts to 30,000 fewer students. To achieve this, courses can introduce calculations for all English courses from next year.

“In fact, the government is using a blunt ax to hit colleges and universities,” says Casper van den Berg. He is chairman of the Universities of the Netherlands, the umbrella group. According to him, the policy will it is recommended that it leads to a reduction in the training offer. “Both in the Randstad and in less densely populated areas.”

There are concerns in higher education that some Dutch courses will be destroyed by the new rules. “They can’t survive because they get financial support by offering English courses,” says Van den Berg. He refers to courses in the Dutch language where there are not many enrollments at the moment. to keep them going.

The LSVb student union is also vital. On the one hand, the association admits that the increase in English education has “taken a hit”, but the students ask if the current government plans are the right way to deal with the problem. “This mostly looks like a show of muscle,” said LSVb president Abdelkader Karbache.

According to the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, the government is exacerbating the problem. In response to today’s news, the organization says that 92 percent of professional higher education courses are already offered in Dutch. “Dutch is already the norm in higher professional education,” the association mentions the measures taken by the department to reduce the number of courses taught in English.

Education, and many other sectors, rely on English-speaking workers. The president of LSVb Karbache expects that soon there will not be enough Dutch workers for all courses.

It also supports the position of universities and colleges that income from foreign students is essential at the moment. “That’s why so many international students have been brought here. It’s a financial incentive. It’s the wrong revenue model, but it’s a truth.”

According to Karbache, there should first be a discussion about what might be a good alternative instead of “putting the brakes on it.”