Nearly 123,000 international students in NL last year; 15% of total

Almost 123,000 international students studied in a university or higher vocational education course in the Netherlands in the 2022/23 academic year. That is 15 percent of all students who followed a higher vocational education or university course, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Friday.

Over three-quarters of international students in the Netherlands last academic year came from Europe, most from Germany. About two-thirds of them studied at a university, most often for a bachelor’s degree (43 percent). About a quarter of all international students studied for an HBO bachelor’s degree. Over half of Dutch students studied for an HBO bachelor’s degree.

Journalism, behavior and society, and law, administration, trade, and business services were popular study directions among both international and Dutch students at universities last year. “International students opted for this slightly more often than Dutch students, and less often for a study in the field of healthcare and welfare or education,” CBS said.

A few international students were doing their master’s degree in the past academic year. Many of them studied technology, industry, and construction.

Compared to Dutch students, international students in higher vocational education (HBO) more often studied in the fields of design, art, languages, and history. They were less likely to study education or healthcare and welfare.