{"id":154006,"date":"2023-05-01T16:23:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=154006"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:46","slug":"cautious-optimism-about-dijkgraafs-plans-to-curb-internationalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/05\/01\/cautious-optimism-about-dijkgraafs-plans-to-curb-internationalisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cautious optimism about Dijkgraaf\u2019s plans to curb internationalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf unfolded his plans for channelling the intake of international students last week. The initial reactions are cautiously optimistic, although there is still some criticism. \u201cHe\u2019s leaving quite some room for interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFemke Legu\u00e9<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The intake of international students has led to heated debates in the House of Representatives. Internationalisation is great, but should so many students really be coming here? What effect will it have on the housing market, the quality of teaching and the position of the Dutch language?<\/p>\n

Dijkgraaf stayed calm under the barrage. And he left a bill drafted by his predecessor on the shelf, as he wanted more time to think about it. After all, the flow of talent into the Netherlands is of great importance.<\/p>\n

Some Dutch<\/h2>

He postponed his letter to the House of Representatives a number of times, but last Friday he finally sent<\/a> it. He wants to introduce a form of \u2018central control\u2019. He announced some practical measures as well.<\/p>\n

Study programmes will be able to hit the emergency brake if too many students from outside Europe enrol. They will also be allowed to introduce a fixed quota (maximum number of students) for the English-language tracks, while the Dutch-language tracks remain available to all. Additionally, all students from abroad will have to learn some Dutch.<\/p>\n

Hatte van der Woude, VVD<\/h2>

\u201cIt isn\u2019t yet clear to me exactly what he wants to achieve with this central control. He\u2019s leaving quite some room for interpretation. But we had already asked for the possibility of an emergency fixed quota, a maximum number of tracks in other languages and control of non-EU students, and Dijkgraaf is now going to put forward a bill to that effect. I\u2019m pleased that he is no longer trying to wriggle out of it, but a lot of time has been lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pieter Omtzigt, independent member of the House<\/h2>

\u201cIt\u2019s good that the government acknowledges at last that there are major problems with the number of international students in the Netherlands and is finally proposing a few relatively minor policy changes. But the measures are still a bit meagre. There are 115,000 international students. Forty percent of the students enrolling at Dutch universities come from abroad. These are important and expensive places that are funded from Dutch tax revenue to give opportunities to Dutch young people.\u201d Omtzigt also wants more clarity on the Minister\u2019s planned language policy.<\/p>\n

Lisa Westerveld, GroenLinks<\/h2>

\u201cNot much is concrete yet. I understand his guiding principles: naturally internationalisation is important and naturally there are problem areas. But what\u2019s the best way of dealing with this? He is simply putting off the major issues, such as the question of funding. The letter mainly addresses the urgent problems and gives no long-term direction. It\u2019s clear that something has to be done. Internationalisation is actually a victim of its own success: the policy was so successful that universities are now bursting at the seams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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