Dutch Universities Set to Limit International Student Admittance

In Netherlands news today, a coalition of fourteen universities have joined hands to implement measures to tackle the growing influx of international students as well as boost the language proficiency in Dutch amongst students and faculty members. The news emerging from the Netherlands was revealed by the National News Agency of Netherlands (ANP) and marks a significant shift in the country’s outlook towards international students in Netherlands.

In order to kick this initiative off, these institutions have decided to create no new bachelor’s programs in English, a huge change for universities in Netherlands for international students. In addition, the universities will study and analyse which English-taught courses can now be converted into Dutch-only courses. Master’s programs taught in English, however, will remain untouched.

International students in Netherlands will also be scaled back except for sectors that are facing labour shortages. These changes are measures to ensure new entrants have a comfortable time in the country while also ensuring good courses are fully accessible for native students. This is in conjunction with a brand new law emerging in Netherlands news today that is currently in the drafting stage so far; it’ll also focus on the restriction of foreign students and introduce quotas for courses taught in English.

The Netherlands has always sought out foreign admits into its world-class universities, focus in the government has shifted towards this approach’s potential drawbacks, mainly stemming from the high influx of non-native students. Concerns revolve around the accessibility of courses for native students as well as the strong impact the country faces in urban areas to house the new entrants, making rental costs sky-rocket.

The Netherlands’ move to curb foreign arrivals comes shortly after Canada announced 2-year cap on international students. Both moves serve the main purpose of decreasing the amount of students that migrate to the country from abroad for further studies. It is yet to be seen how the policy change will pan out.

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