Dutch universities still actively attracting international students

Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences are still actively recruiting international students, despite concerns about their influx and the increased pressure on the housing market, De Telegraaf reports.

According to the newspaper, universities describe the Netherlands as a “happy country” with “favorable tuition fees” on scholarships offered in various countries, ranging from Indonesia to Vietnam.

Next week, six Dutch higher education institutions will attend an education fair in Ankara, Turkey. And multiple Dutch institutions signed up to participate in Baltic information days in Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn in February, the newspaper wrote.

That is in stark contrast to the current zeitgeist in the Netherlands. Parliament recently voted in several motions to limit the number of international students coming to the Netherlands, including a ban on universities actively recruiting students from abroad.

Parliamentarians are worried about packed lecture halls and the student housing shortage. Over the summer, several Dutch universities, including those in Amsterdam and Utrecht, had to tell already accepted students to change their plans if they couldn’t find anywhere to stay.

This academic year, 85,500 international students are registered in the Netherlands, a growth of 7.2 percent compared to last year.