The number of German students at Dutch universities has grown significantly over the past few years, while the number of Chinese students has dropped a little, as appears in new data released by Statistics Netherlands.
The Germans make up forty percent of the international student population in the Netherlands. China and Belgium are the numbers two and three, but there is a wide gap between them and the Germans.
During the 2005-2006 academic year twelve thousand German students studied at Dutch universities. Last year that number stood at nineteen thousand. The number of German students at the EUR in the current academic year is estimated to be almost 1800. Consequently, nearly one in ten of the German students in Holland studies at the EUR.
Why Holland
There are many reasons for German students to come to Holland. Studying here is much cheaper for instance. But Eric Berning, IBEB student, had his own reasons for choosing the EUR: “As soon as I had decided to go to Holland for my studies, I knew it was going to be Erasmus University. I want an international carreer and in economics the EUR is known world-wide for its international opportunities.”
Small-scale education
Another point that attracts German students is the relatively small scale of education in Holland. ESE student Bertram Flesch says: “In Germany at an economics study programme, you’ll easily end up in a lecture hall with 1500 other students. Here at the EUR you are with fewer students and you have the chance to ask a few questions during the lecture.”
Popular study programmes
Psychology (22 percent) and Business Administration (23 percent) are the most popular study programmes among the Germans. Of the entire international student population, the majority is female, sixty percent at HBO-universities and 54 percent at universities. There are big differences per nationality though. Of the Pakistani students only eight percent are female; of the Russians 75 percent are female.
