{"id":156186,"date":"2023-06-14T12:23:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T10:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=156186"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:50","slug":"new-law-for-intake-of-international-students-it-may-be-necessary-but-striking-this-tone-is-worrisome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/06\/14\/new-law-for-intake-of-international-students-it-may-be-necessary-but-striking-this-tone-is-worrisome\/","title":{"rendered":"New law for intake of international students: ‘Necessary, but the tone is worrisome’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fewer international students and more Dutch students at Dutch universities. These are the intended outcomes of the new law that the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, is working on. The political debate on the influx of international students is being followed closely by EUR staff with feelings ranging from interest to concern \u2013 and a large measure of annoyance.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe sky was the limit when it came to student numbers growing\u201d, says Mark van Ostaijen, a lecturer and researcher in Public Administration and Sociology, who has felt a \u2018latent sense of political irritation\u2019 on this issue for some time and wrote an opinion piece for de Volkskrant<\/em><\/a>. \u201cLimits were never discussed by the university or by the Ministry, despite the fact that student numbers have always been critical to the evaluation of degree programmes. The more students, the better. Existing problems are now \u2018suddenly\u2019 regarded as excesses.\u201d According to the sociologist, ambitions for growth were the sole consideration, whereas the downside was not considered at all. \u201cAs student numbers grew, staff capacity was only marginally increased. Student accommodation wasn\u2019t discussed until students were forced to stay in tents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of international students at Dutch educational institutions has been rising for years. In the autumn of 2005, 33,000 international students were enrolled<\/a>, which has risen to over 122,000<\/a> this academic year. In recent years, the housing shortage has increased sharply<\/a>. Last year, universities called on international students not to come to the Netherlands<\/a> if they did not yet have a place to live. Universities have been complaining for some time that, while the lecture halls were filling up to the rafters with Dutch and international students, funding to cope with this increase was lacking.<\/a> The workload<\/a> for lecturers similarly increased along with growth in student numbers. In 2022, the Executive Board asked the Minister for assistance<\/a> with regard to controlling student growth.<\/p>\n

In late April, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, made his initial plans available<\/a>. An \u2019emergency capacity limit\u2019 should allow universities to exclude students from outside the EU. The Dutch language skills of all students, including international students, must be improved with a view to \u2018more international students being actively guided to the Dutch labour market\u2019. In future, the Minister aims for educational institutions only to recruit students in a targeted manner, i.e. only for programmes that match professions in high demand.<\/p>\n\n\t

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