Netherland Working on a Strategy to Curb International Students

By Henry February 11, 2024
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With the intention of curbing and regulating the increasing number of international students, fourteen universities in the Netherlands have planned to take collective measures that will minimize the number of international students and promote Dutch language skills among students along with the members of their universities. The information about the decision was received from the National News Agency of the Netherlands (ANP).

In the framework of these measures, the process of creating new bachelor’s degree programs in English will be temporarily suspended. This means that universities will have to conduct surveys to determine which courses are currently taught in English and which classes can be entirely taught in Dutch. It is also essential to state that no changes will be made to the master’s programs taught in English. International fairs, as a means of active recruitment of personnel, will not be promoted as actively, except for the cases with critical staffing deficits.

Such a development is evident in the understanding by universities that the general bachelor’s curriculum in essential subjects like economics and psychology should be taught in Dutch. This implies that the move has been made in an effort to exhaust possible ways of balancing the two extremes of full internationalization and having some key programs delivered in the first language.

The universities call for an improvement in the Dutch language proficiency and, in general, an increase in knowledge about the Dutch culture of members of the academia. The new law, which is still in the draft stage, seeks to limit the enrolment of international students and set caps on courses that are taught in English.

Over the last couple of years, attempts have been made to attract the attention of international students; however, potential disadvantages have been considered as well. Some of the concerns include the inability to admit a large number of Dutch students due to the high enrollment of international learners and the fact that international students may overshadow various study courses. Further, the kinds of accommodation pressures that exist with student housing in cities have increased due to the current pandemic situation.

Source: ET

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