Cap on international students bad for the economy, say universities in the Randstad

The Netherlands could lose several billion euros if universities in the Randstad are forced to significantly reduce the number of international students they admit. That is what five universities are warning in the run-up to the elections.

What would happen if three-quarters of international bachelor’s students stayed away from the universities of Rotterdam, Leiden, Utrecht and the two universities in Amsterdam? And if they also stayed away from the master’s programmes? And did not go on to work here?

These five universities in the Randstad asked the economic research institute SEO to calculate the impact. It would cost the Dutch economy roughly four to five billion euros, out of a total size of more than a thousand billion.

Elections

On Wednesday 29 October, voters will once again head to the polls. Eight political parties state in their election manifestos that they want more Dutch-taught programmes in higher education. That would mean fewer international students coming here.

This position is nothing new. The universities commissioned the SEO study some time ago, when they feared the proposed Internationalisation in Balance Act: many English-taught programmes might have had to switch to Dutch. But in May, the feared ‘language test’ for existing bachelor’s programmes was removed from the bill.

The universities themselves asked SEO to base its calculations on a 75 percent drop in bachelor’s students and a 10 to 30 percent decline in master’s students. This scenario is therefore speculative: it is not based on any announced measures.

In recent years, the growth in the number of international students has already slowed down. The figures for this year are not yet known.