{"id":168541,"date":"2024-05-30T16:20:21","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T14:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=168541"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:21","slug":"growth-in-international-student-numbers-slowing-steadily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/05\/30\/growth-in-international-student-numbers-slowing-steadily\/","title":{"rendered":"Growth in international student numbers slowing steadily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of international students in Dutch higher education rose by 5 <\/span>percent this year, the lowest growth rate in nine years. One in six of these students opted for a <\/span>Dutch-taught degree programme.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBart Huijser<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For many years, the total number of international students (including students in later years) increased substantially, but not anymore: two years ago, growth stood at 12 percent, a year later it was down to 7 percent<\/a> and the latest figures from internationalisation organisation Nuffic report a growth rate of 5.4 percent.<\/p>\n

Basic student grant<\/h2>

The influx of new<\/em> international students also continues to rise but only by a modest 2.6 percent. This is true of Master\u2019s programmes and higher professional programmes but not of university Bachelor\u2019s programmes. For the first time in almost two decades, the number of new international enrolments in these programmes fell by 0.6 percent.<\/p>\n

The number of first-year students coming to the Netherlands from the European Economic Area (EEA) has remained roughly the same for two years. Last year, Nuffic speculated that many European students may have postponed studying in the Netherlands until the reintroduction of the basic grant, but now that the grant is in place, nothing much seems to have changed. The number of first-year students from outside Europe did continue to grow: by 8.8 percent this year.<\/p>\n

Overall, 26.4 percent of university students in the Netherlands now come from abroad; 8.2 percent is the figure for universities of applied sciences.<\/p>\n

Language<\/h2>

For the first time, Nuffic looked at the language of tuition on the university Bachelor\u2019s and Master\u2019s programmes taken by international students: it found that 16.2 percent of foreign students were enrolled in a Dutch-taught Bachelor\u2019s programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis does not mean that all courses and reading material on these programmes are in Dutch\u201d, Nuffic researcher Saoradh Favier explains. \u201cBut you do need a certain command of Dutch to take these programmes.\u201d Students from Germany, Italy and France are most likely to take a Dutch-taught programme.<\/p>\n

China<\/h2>

The figure for new student enrolments by Chinese students is particularly striking: up by 23 percent, the fastest rise in almost two decades. In January 2023, China abandoned its stringent Covid lockdown measures and reopened its borders. The influx of students from Ukraine also continues to grow, by 18 percent in the 2023-24 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Read more<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t