Regions outside Randstad against limiting international students

Regions outside the Randstad are very worried about plans to limit the number of international students. Educational institutions and businesses in Limburg, Zeeland, Twente, Groningen, and Friesland benefit greatly from international students and experience much less of the problems that occur in the Randstad, Trouw reports.

Under increasing pressure from parliament, Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education) is working on a bill to make the influx of international students “manageable.” Many large student cities - Amsterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven - are struggling to house all the students coming their way. There is also increasing pressure on higher education institutions.

But that is not a problem faced by student cities outside the Randstad. “I am very concerned,” Barbara Oomen, director of HZ University of Applied Sciences (formerly Hogeschool Zeeland), said to Trouw. HZ has about 17 percent international students. ‘In the Tweede Kamer, there is impatience, for example, because of the housing shortage in the big cities. But I’m afraid they’ll grab too coarse a brush in their hurry to solve this. While there are no problems here in Zeeland.”

According to Oomen, Zeeland depends on international students. The region has a shrinking population and a significant shortage of personnel. Many tech companies in the area are desperate for newly graduated, highly skilled personnel.

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, will debate the matter on Tuesday afternoon. Zeeland and the other non-Randstad regions hope that Dijkgraaf will bear them in mind, for example, by ensuring that areas with shrinking populations and significant staff shortages can continue to recruit abroad. “Zeeland cannot do without it. That is simply a fact. It would be a huge shame if we were forced to change direction,” Oomen said to Trouw.