Last year, the university expressed some concerns about the sharp increase in enrolment figures. At the time, the university was wondering whether ‘the growth would be able to be curbed’ and how the rise in student numbers would affect staff workloads and the quality of both teaching and research. However, despite those misgivings, the number of students rose again last year, by more than 4 per cent. Whereas EUR had fewer than 24,000 students in 2015, it is now approaching the magic number of thirty thousand students.

The degree programmes that saw the greatest increase in enrolment numbers were the Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Business Administration. The number of Psychology students rose from 1,144 to 1,472, while the number of Business Administration students increased from 2,490 to 2,702. On the other hand, the number of students enrolling in the Master’s degrees offered by the Rotterdam School of Management fell by more than 5 per cent, which may or may not have been due to the fact that the Master’s degree in Finance & Investment (Advanced) was cancelled.

ESSB and ESHCC are growing rapidly

The increase in the number of Psychology students is the main reason why the number of students attending the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences has risen so sharply. For its part, the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC), which is having a rough time in other aspects recently, is actually doing very well in terms of enrolment numbers. ESHCC welcomed 10 per cent more Bachelor’s students this year than last year, as well as more than 13 per cent more Master’s students.

The rise in enrolment figures is largely due to the growing number of international students attending EUR. The university now has over six thousand international students (up 6 per cent on last year). Most of EUR’s international students hail from Germany, Italy, Greece, China and France.