Ana, Theo and Elisa all made a deliberate choice for the International Bachelor in Psychology over a psychology program somewhere else. “I’m from Romania which isn’t a very international country, so when I went to university in the Netherlands, I wanted to find people from other cultures, engage and befriend them”, said Theo. Why did she come to EUR? Because ‘it really looked like the American dream’. “A college campus with people from all around the world, sitting by the grass and talking about everything.”
Elisa, Mexican but arriving from Spain, felt welcome at EUR when she was looking for a study programme. “The university used to promote a lot for international students and was proud of how international it was.” On the website for example, she liked the ‘maps of where the alumni and students are from’. “You can talk to student ambassadors from different programs, all from different countries.” To her, ‘it looked like the university wanted more internationals to come to the Netherlands.’
For Ana, also from Romania, the choice was based off academia: “In the Netherlands, there are the best programs for Psychology.” Erasmus University offered Psychology in the English track, unlike other countries she looked at, such as Belgium, Denmark or Germany.
Salman follows the Dutch track of Psychology, but he didn’t consider the international bachelor programme. “When I was looking into a study, I didn’t know the English track was possible. So, I never really considered it.”
He chose Erasmus University for the atmosphere. “There was a more relaxed, enjoyable vibe in Rotterdam, the city was more approachable.”
In anticipation of a review of all non-Dutch language programmes by the
minister of Education Eppo Bruins to potentially abolish them, universities
have made their own proposal to turn certain programmes to Dutch or
reduce the number of students. The condition for this proposal is that the
review is to be cancelled. The Executive Board expects that many more
programmes would be eliminated if this review were to happen. The
minister announced on Wednesday that he doesn’t intend to scrap the
review.
The international bachelor’s programme in Psychology is the only EUR
programme that will completely discontinue in the proposal, starting in
2027. There will still be a Dutch bachelor’s programme in Psychology,
and the intake restriction (600 first-year students) is likely to remain the
same as it is now for both English and Dutch combined. In that way, there
will be more places available for Dutch students.
Diverse perspectives
Elisa emphasised the value of international perspectives in the classroom: “You hear a lot of different perspectives from different countries.” She describes this as a ‘dynamic process, making the topics in class more insightful’, because ‘there’s no class where there’s predominantly students from one country’.
“This is a domain where the Dutch track is lacking”, said Salman. “The benefits of the international group are that they bring the intellectual history of these different countries”, he developed. In comparison, Salman believes the Dutch track ‘only have people who all studied the same intellectual history.’
Feeling of neglect
Theo is disappointed with the news that the international psychology programme will disappear: “Internationals put in a lot of work to be here, to not disappoint themselves, to not disappoint their families or friends, and to make sure they have a future.” Ana feels like she’s ‘being sacrificed’: “It sucks, and it makes us not feel valued as a student at EUR and it feels like the university doesn’t think that we’re important to this university.”
“I empathise and sympathise with the International track students”, said Salman, but he also sees a big impact in the future of psychology research: “A huge chunk of psychology students are going to become researchers, and they’re going to add innovation and unique perspectives.” He feels that without internationals, there will be a loss in innovation within research: “You’re losing a large group of people that undoubtedly play a major role in innovation.”
Language of science
What do they think are going to be the consequences with international psychology gone? Ana proposed two consequences for upcoming students: either they ‘choose another university for different studies’, or they continue with psychology, ‘but not on the same level’ as they would find at EUR.
Theo sees the termination of international programmes as a loss for prospective international students: “Only having a few courses being international would affect a lot of people and they would be less likely to move here.” Elisa shares a similar opinion: “If everyone was from the same place, grew up in the same country and has the same perspective, it would be less-eye opening.”
Salman sees a positive for the Dutch track: “It would become less massive and therefore individual students would get more attention from teachers.” However, he believes that ‘English is too important’: “The majority of scientific research is written in English. It’s the language of science, and the University is getting rid of that.”
