More first-year students apply; no reduction in tuition fees

According to Engels, however, these are provisional figures and the exact number of people actually registering will not be known until mid-August. At that time, students will have to pay the tuition fees and the numbers will be final.

The registrations at the end of May are always an important first indication for the new academic year. The increase reported by the EUR is still above the overall picture for the Dutch universities, which shows an increase of 6.5 percent. A total of 99,000 first-year students have applied. Due to the corona crisis, a decrease was actually expected.

It remains to be seen whether the international students who apply will actually turn up after the summer. Online petitions show that these students in particular are struggling with the high tuition fees, which can amount to more than 10,000 euros for students from outside Europe. This while even after 1 September, education will still have to be online, at least partly.

Rector Rutger Engels, however, made it clear in Erasmus TV that the tuition fees will not be reduced. “We are working as hard as we can to provide students with a hybrid form of education that will take place partly online and partly at the university. That is the consequence of the crisis we are experiencing with society as a whole. I think, given that situation, we can provide a good alternative.”

However, as far as the increase in the number of students was concerned, he still made some reservations. “By mid-August, we’ll know more, and it’ll become clear what the financial consequences will be for the university.”