However, that doesn’t mean that over four thousand students will be starting IBA in September. Many will drop off the list, explains executive director Adri Meijdam. “Firstly, these students need to register via our online registration form. From experience, we know that around twelve hundred will drop out. “And that’s not the end of the story, because the quota for this year is 650 students.
The students will therefore be ranked based on their grades from secondary school (75 percent) and their international CV or motivation (25 percent). The best 650 will then be accepted. Students must have at least a 7 to have any chance of being considered for a place.
Fewer Dutch students
In the past, besides their school grades, students were assessed on both their CV and their motivation, but this put Dutch students at a disadvantage, says Meijdam. “International students have often lived in many different places, while the average Dutch student might not have left Capelle. We felt that these students needed an opportunity too, so they can now choose to send a motivation letter instead of a CV. That makes it fairer.”
Nevertheless, the percentage of Dutch students last year was only 23 percent, well below 40 percent, which, according to Meijdam, is the perfect balance between an international group and enough room for Dutch students. “However, we cannot select on that. We must give everyone a fair chance. We can do a bit of tweaking, but not much.”
Internationals attract internationals
IBA partly owes its popularity to a high business school ranking with the Financial Times, Meijdam thinks. Furthermore, it is the highest business school in the Netherlands and one of the highest in Europe. “That’s very important to many international students.”
And international students then attract more international students. “When we started in around 2000, international students wondered: will we end up on an island among Dutch students? The honest answer then was: yes. Now the situation is very different, which is best reflected in our buddy programme. If someone from France wants to know more about the programme, we can link them to a French IBA student. We always have a student like you.”
