The country is becoming more popular among international students, but Dutch institutions want the government to allow them to limit the number of foreign students who can attend certain courses.
According to the Dutch university group UvN, overseas students account for 80,000 of the 340,000 students now enrolled at one of the country’s 13 institutions, putting undue strain on universities, according to DutchNews.nl.
Enrollment of international students in Dutch universities has long been a source of concern, with universities reporting that it has reached crisis proportions. Studying in the Netherlands is becoming increasingly popular among overseas students, owing to the country’s top universities and English-taught programs. In the QS World University Rankings 2022, 13 Dutch universities are placed among the top 300 in the world.
Despite this, Dutch institutions have been advocating for steps to better manage international student numbers, which have increased 14 percent in the current academic year, according to the portal. According to institutions, student numbers are expanding, but funding is not increasing fast enough to keep up with demand.
According to Chairman Pieter Duisenberg, “international talent is crucial” for both research and industry, but the growth in foreign students is currently too substantial to sustain the excellent quality of courses and is putting too much strain on staff.
Three methods were proposed by the association to restrict the influx of international students:
- Limiting the number of students enrolled in English language courses
- Limiting the number of non-EU students allowed in each course
- An emergency brake that allows applications to be capped if they become too numerous and endanger course quality.
Approximately 73% of international students now enrolled at a Dutch university are from the European Economic Area, primarily Germany. According to the survey, China has the largest number of non-EU students.
According to SchengenVisaInfo.com, citing data from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), the number of study visa applications from third-country students reached 15,110 by the end of July 2021, compared to the corresponding time in 2020, when IND admitted 12,310 study visa applications, a 40% decrease.
As per the report, the majority of applications for study in the Netherlands are submitted by students from China, India, the United States, Turkey, and Indonesia.
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